Myth of Sisyphus

Author: Camus
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-10-01
Features: If Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground can be called the best prelude to existentialism, then Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus is also an outstanding conclusion to existentialism. — [American] W. Kaufman, Existentialism
Camus spread a concise idea to that generation of students: the relationship between humans and the world is absurd, alienation is an integral part of human existence, and one must resist death. — [American] Cotkin, American Existentialism
For over twenty years, Camus's works have been closely tied to the pursuit of justice. — [French] Malraux
In this century, he withstood the historical trend, independently inheriting the long-standing literature of caution. With a tenacious, rigorous, pure, solemn, and passionate humanism, he declared war on the vulgarity and ugliness of the present age, though the outcome is uncertain. However, conversely, through his unwavering refusal, he reaffirmed in our time the rejection of moral Machiavellianism and opportunistic realism, proving the existence of morality. — [French] Sartre
Camus speaks to those who find the world absurd, to those who feel that human history and existence have no meaning or purpose but still engage in activities within this absurd world. — [American] Copleston, Contemporary Philosophy
This book was written intermittently from 1936 to 1941, from conception to writing to finalization, yet it retains an inherent philosophical completeness and a systematic logical coherence. It begins with the emergence of the absurd and the definition of the concept of absurdity, then discusses attitudes toward and methods of resolving absurdity, extending to the relationship between absurdity and literary creation. This series of arguments constitutes the most extensive and systematic absurd philosophy in Western literature of the 20th century.
The equivalent of absurdity, as advocated by the author, is to persist in struggle and strive against it. He summarizes this attitude of life into the myth of Sisyphus. In this book, there is a king who provoked the wrath of the gods and was sentenced to push a boulder to the top of a mountain. Due to its weight, the boulder always rolled back down, so he had to push it up again, and so on, endlessly. The gods thought there was no punishment more terrible than this futile, endless labor. Yet Sisyphus kept pushing the stone up the mountain, repeating the cycle, unrelenting, without stopping.