Albert The Absurd Camus
“Albert Camus is one of the most likeable and approachable of the mid-twentieth-century French authors” (Brosman 10).This is quite a compliment for Camus, but most would agree. In France, Albert is known for his many books, two which have made the French best-sellers list. His works are often read and studied in French secondary-school class rooms, introducing a countless number of students to his pieces each year. Camus also holds the high honor of receiving the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957 (Boak 346). His wide popularity has made his name known in North America as well. Just what is Albert Camus so popular for one might ask? The answer would be his approach to his work— the underlying beliefs of
…show more content…
Catherine was already illiterate and deaf when married to Lucien, but after hearing the news of her late husband became even more withdrawn from the world. She took her two sons to live in poverty with her mother and brother in the Belcourt, a division of Algiers (“Wikipedia” 1; Cruickshank 1). Albert loved his mother very much, yet did not feel his love reciprocated. The early years for Camus were lonely with the absence of his father and difficulty to communicate with his mother.
As Albert grew older, he attended lycée (term for secondary schooling in France) and the University of Algiers. At the university, he found a love for the sport of soccer. Unfortunately, his time as the team’s goalie was forced to end when in 1930 he fell ill to tuberculosis, a battle he would continually have to fight in his life (MacDonald 145). With this news, Camus turned to his studies, developing his literary career. Camus was particularly inspired by one of his university teachers, Jean Grenier. Jean was an advisor to Albert in his interest of literary and philosophical ideas (Cruickshank 1). Camus considered following his teacher’s footsteps and becoming a teacher; however, this career faltered with another episode of tuberculosis, causing him to not qualify for the position. He now turned his attention to a literary career.
Camus had many jobs as a writer. He worked for a political newspaper, where he could defend his homeland Algeria, to which he had a strong
Furthermore, Camus uses family and personal relationships as a way to develop the protagonists’ isolation in the novel, working in providing context for the developing plot. In The Stranger, the author uses this methodology
Albert Camus’s novel, The Stranger is regarded to the philosophical ideas of Existentialism, yet seems to also incorporate Absurdist tenets throughout the book that show ideals of being a unique type of individual with different actions that society disagrees with.
"Albert Camus." Bookmarks (Issue 14). Jan./Feb. 2005: 26-31. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 01 Jan . 2013.
Doubtless, this was Zinn’s summary of Camus’ concluding words from an article entitled, “Toward Dialogue: Neither Victims nor Executioners.” It appeared as the last of eight chapters in a collection of his essays, published as Camus at Combat: Articles and Editorials (1944-1947). These essays conveyed his experiences and reflections as a partisan in the French Underground
The solitude of man with the innate endeavoring nature to incessantly find passion, be fruitful, and embrace the tangibles causes us to lose focus of the scornful end. The condemnation we find ourselves in subsequent to the impotent attempts to satiate our inexplicable questions, is the puncture to our ideal notion . The disenchantment the truth of our obscure being offered is masqueraded with the absurdity through which we seamlessly wander through this life. The irrefutable desire to numb the conscious is the bittersweet burden which we carry to suppress the abyss of disparity which we are floating amidst. Monsieur Meursault in Albert Camus’ The Stranger is the blaring anomaly. Fortifying himself through his indifferent nature and blunt honesty, Meursault is ostracized. Deemed with a psychosis he finds comfort in the unruly inescapable solace of life, death, which morphs into his gradual declination. The sun tracing his unusual circumstances, catalyzing his imminent reactions provides itself as the only paradigm to symbolize Meursault. The intricacies which unfold are reiterated by the Sun which juxtapose the indigenous contingency to find meaning. Meursault’s paradoxical compel and abhorrence to the sun highlights the idea that the what we choose to learn may not be abiding in beauty. Our choice in this duality sets forth the invitation to introspection offering its only absolute form through our own willingness. Meursault understanding himself is bonded to the sun
artre and Beauvoir worked closely together, and laced ideas intertwine within their works; however, there was another writer who, though a colleague of Sartre, brought his own views on Existentialism. Albert Camus, a French writer like Beauvoir and Sartre, and one with a tangled relationship with Sartre, created the the philosophy of the Absurd. In The Stranger, Camus displays the Absurd and the indifference of life. In his later novel, The Fall, he discusses the guilt of all men, not only in their actions, but in their inactions as well. The Fall was written three years before Camus’ death. In it, he explores guilt and innocence, and claims that all men are equally guilty of something. This plays with the Post-War gloom of his time; and he
The isolation of the characters in response to the epidemic results in the creation of a language barrier which Camus uses to explore the subjectivity of
Albert Camus is considered one of the greatest existentialist writers of all time. However, although he was considered an existentialist writer, Camus never labeled himself as an existentialist. “No, I am not an existentialist” (Albert Camus: Lyrical and Critical Essays, Vintage (1970)) Camus rejected in an 1945 interview, however in some of his literary works, some find that his writings are one of a true existentialistic thinker. Although many contrast these thoughts and believe that Camus was anything but a thinker of this philosophy, Camus is one of the main authors that people turn to research and read to understand the thinking of existentialism. One of his most famous books, The Plague, illustrates the need for a human to become an
Flat characters play a significant role in all novels. For instance, the brother of Raymond’s mistress is a key flat character. The Arab never grows throughout the novel; rather, he remains a stalker, stalking his prey, tempting a fight. Without the role of the Arab, Meursault, would never have gone to prison, and never be tried for murder.
Of Paris at the age of 14, and mastered almost everything he turned his attention to, including a brilliant writing style and masterful skill in logic and logical argument. At the age of 19, he graduated with his Master of Arts degree. And at the age of 22, he mastered a classical literature and published his first literary commentary.
In The Stranger, author Albert Camus involves the sun throughout the novel in order to display mans vulnerability. He presents the sun as a powerful, unfortunate influence on main character, Meursault and describes him as a simple minded, easily influenced, mellow individual. The Main influence in Meursaults’ life is the sun. Meursault is bothered by it however he does not make much of an attempt to stop or ignore it. He simply permits the suns heat, accepting it and affirms his personality. Becoming vulnerable is basic however with a more vigorous charisma, persuasion can be avoided. However an able source such as the sun, Camus establishes is a little more difficult to avoid.
What is the absurd? Camus categorized as the “belief in the absurdity of existence must then dictate his conduct” (Camus, 6). What Camus means is feeling of absurdity goes hand in hand with having a meaningless life. We get so used to doing the same routine that, we as people don’t think we just act like a robot. Camus asks “Does its absurdity require one to escape it through hope or suicide? And does the absurd dictate death” (Camus, 9). Camus says, “An objective mind can always introduce into all problems have no place in this pursuit and this passion” (Camus, 9). The problem with this is if we were always based on facts then we would not be able to base our opinions on experiences. Camus also relates the feeling of absurdity to exile, we as people what to have meaning and or purpose in our own lives. The absurdity displaces us from having a meaning life. Camus says, “Mean who die by their own hand consequently follow to its conclusion their emotional inclination” (Camus, 9). Camus considers this an absurd reasoning because this feeling of exile can turn anyone crazy leading into suicide which both the absurd and suicide are linked together.
Albert Camus was a French-Algerian writer, who made an enterprising contribution to a wide range of issues in moral philosophy. Camus was a moralist as well as a political theoretician and stood in high public esteem not only in France but also all over Europe after World War Ⅱ. Albert Camus spent a dismal childhood with poverty and bereavement of his father’s death. In his school years, Camus became an avid reader, developing a lifelong interest in literature as well as profoundly opened his eyes to philosophy. Therefore, Camus principally dealt with philosophy themes in his work. In this short biography of Albert Camus, we will explore his philosophy of absurdism and its effect on Camus’s morality. Besides, the reader will be examining Camus’s influences on existentialism.
ABSTRACT: After 350 years of continual social transformations under the push of industrialization, capitalism, world-wide social revolutions, and the development of modern science, what reasonably remains of the traditional faith in divine transcendence and providential design except a deep-felt, almost 'ontological' yearning for transcendence? Torn between outmoded religious traditions and an ascendant secular world, the contemporary celebration of individuality only makes more poignant the need for precisely that religious consolation that public life increasingly denies. People must now confront the meaning of their lives without the assured aid of transcendent purpose and direction. The
At the point when France was involved amid WWII, ended up noticeably dynamic in the resistance development and acted as the supervisor in-boss in the daily paper named 'battle'. Taking a shot at his three books to be specific the outsider, the torment, and the fall alongside his short stories the myth of Sisyphus and the revolt in the mid-century got him global readership and notoriety. It was in these works that he presented and built up the twin philosophical thoughts—the idea of the silly and the idea of revolt—that made him well known. His assemblage of work additionally incorporates a gathering of short fiction, banish and the kingdom; a self-portraying novel, the primary man; various emotional works, most quite Caligula, the misconception, the condition of attack, and the equitable professional killers; a few interpretations and adjustments, including new forms of works by Calderon, lope de Vega, Dostoyevsky, and Faulkner; and a protracted arrangement of expositions,