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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
One is amazed, one is forever changed, one cannot read this and not have the impulse to read it again right away.
What a book, what a mind.
What a book, what a mind.
Read skeptically. Camus himself had critiques of the work later in life. The Myth of Sisyphus is about perseverance, not ethics.
The additional essays aren't essential if you're not interested in deep literary critique, but try the one about Kafka if you've read any of his works.
The additional essays aren't essential if you're not interested in deep literary critique, but try the one about Kafka if you've read any of his works.
Too many things I'm reading and want to read lighter French stuff first.
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
NOTA: Este libro es un ensayo. El libro narra el mito de Sísifo en el último capítulo y solo en dos páginas.
Lo demás es la opinión e interpretación de este autor, que en su mayor parte abarca comentarios y definiciones sobre "qué es una vida absurda". Un contenido excelente para hacerte dormir.
Albert Camus escribe para sí mismo, o no le importa que su lector le entienda. Eso, o la traducción que yo leí era pésima.
Este libro fue una pérdida de tiempo. Por cierto, El Extranjero está sobrevalorado.
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NOTE: This book is an essay. The book tells the myth of Sisyphus in the last chapter and only in two pages.
The rest of the book is the opinion and interpretation of this author, including for the most part definitions and commentary on "what is an absurd life". Excellent content to cure insomnia.
Albert Camus writes for himself, or he does not care about being understood. Or the translation that I read was atrocious.
This book was a waste of time. Also, The Stranger is overrated.
Lo demás es la opinión e interpretación de este autor, que en su mayor parte abarca comentarios y definiciones sobre "qué es una vida absurda". Un contenido excelente para hacerte dormir.
Albert Camus escribe para sí mismo, o no le importa que su lector le entienda. Eso, o la traducción que yo leí era pésima.
Este libro fue una pérdida de tiempo. Por cierto, El Extranjero está sobrevalorado.
----------
NOTE: This book is an essay. The book tells the myth of Sisyphus in the last chapter and only in two pages.
The rest of the book is the opinion and interpretation of this author, including for the most part definitions and commentary on "what is an absurd life". Excellent content to cure insomnia.
Albert Camus writes for himself, or he does not care about being understood. Or the translation that I read was atrocious.
This book was a waste of time. Also, The Stranger is overrated.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
If you’re looking for an intro to absurdism this is your book. You must imagine Sisyphus happy.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
I’m glad I decided to read Nietzche right before reading “The Myth of Sisyphus” because he was mentioned already on the first page. I have been on the wave of reading some philosophy but I can’t say it’s particularly easy.
Originally, due to the title, I thought this was a fiction book such as “The Stranger” but cooler, since it has Greek mythology in it. However it turned out to be an existential work and one of the most influential philosophical texts of the 20th century.
The title was misleading but the original myth of Sisyphus is about a powerful and clever king who pissed off Zeus and was sentenced to death but then he escaped and pissed off Zeus even more and they repeated that cycle until finally he was punished with the worst possible task: to roll a bigass stone up a hill without never actually managing it and having to do it again and again until the end of times. Yes yes, horrifying… none of that was in the book though. In the book we see Camus comparing people's desire to find the meaning or purpose of life as aimlessly as Sisyphus rolled his stone. With such comparison, Camus was laying the groundwork for a philosophical theory called absurdism.
The main idea of the book is that us people are rational and tend to believe that life has some sort of a meaning, purpose or a point and therefore we get into the conflict with the irrational, meaningless and absurd world – no let me correct myself, Camus didn’t see the world as absurd but rather the relationship between the individual and the world. Yeah, it sounds a little bit like nihilism, but it’s more than that. Nihilism stands for the fact that life is meaningless and therefore it is pointless to look for any meaning whilst absurdism ...sort of also believes that but it still hesitantly allows some meaning or value in life for the individual. I’m not going to dwell on it any further though, back to the book!
The book was…a lot to take in.
Camus offers 3 solutions to the aforementioned dilemma between an individual and the world.
First: kill yourself! (This is bad, don’t do that, this only makes the absurd even more absurd.)
Second: philosophically kill yourself! …No, the right term is actually “philosophical suicide” which means that we pretend that there is a higher power or a meaning. In this particular field Camus often brought up Dostoevsky which was rather fun.
And Third: embrace it (probably the healthiest), meaning that one should see that such meaninglessness actually gives us freedom to do what we want and feel about the world however we wish to feel. Such an idea concludes that even Sisyphus who apparently got “the worst” punishment could actually find happiness because the meaninglessness of his act also gives him freedom.
That is pretty much a short and highly simplified summary of the contents of this book. I feel like I should probably read this again in 20 years because 1) I could understand more than half of the many references he makes on different authors and 2) I could probably understand it better in general (because hopefully I do mentally grow and get smarter with years…:))
In general…one hell of a book, definitely a good one but it really put my focus on a test since every sentence was somehow significant. But I enjoyed it much more than I enjoyed “The Stranger” because even though it was kind of difficult, at least it wasn't boring.
Originally, due to the title, I thought this was a fiction book such as “The Stranger” but cooler, since it has Greek mythology in it. However it turned out to be an existential work and one of the most influential philosophical texts of the 20th century.
The title was misleading but the original myth of Sisyphus is about a powerful and clever king who pissed off Zeus and was sentenced to death but then he escaped and pissed off Zeus even more and they repeated that cycle until finally he was punished with the worst possible task: to roll a bigass stone up a hill without never actually managing it and having to do it again and again until the end of times. Yes yes, horrifying… none of that was in the book though. In the book we see Camus comparing people's desire to find the meaning or purpose of life as aimlessly as Sisyphus rolled his stone. With such comparison, Camus was laying the groundwork for a philosophical theory called absurdism.
The main idea of the book is that us people are rational and tend to believe that life has some sort of a meaning, purpose or a point and therefore we get into the conflict with the irrational, meaningless and absurd world – no let me correct myself, Camus didn’t see the world as absurd but rather the relationship between the individual and the world. Yeah, it sounds a little bit like nihilism, but it’s more than that. Nihilism stands for the fact that life is meaningless and therefore it is pointless to look for any meaning whilst absurdism ...sort of also believes that but it still hesitantly allows some meaning or value in life for the individual. I’m not going to dwell on it any further though, back to the book!
The book was…a lot to take in.
Camus offers 3 solutions to the aforementioned dilemma between an individual and the world.
First: kill yourself! (This is bad, don’t do that, this only makes the absurd even more absurd.)
Second: philosophically kill yourself! …No, the right term is actually “philosophical suicide” which means that we pretend that there is a higher power or a meaning. In this particular field Camus often brought up Dostoevsky which was rather fun.
And Third: embrace it (probably the healthiest), meaning that one should see that such meaninglessness actually gives us freedom to do what we want and feel about the world however we wish to feel. Such an idea concludes that even Sisyphus who apparently got “the worst” punishment could actually find happiness because the meaninglessness of his act also gives him freedom.
That is pretty much a short and highly simplified summary of the contents of this book. I feel like I should probably read this again in 20 years because 1) I could understand more than half of the many references he makes on different authors and 2) I could probably understand it better in general (because hopefully I do mentally grow and get smarter with years…:))
In general…one hell of a book, definitely a good one but it really put my focus on a test since every sentence was somehow significant. But I enjoyed it much more than I enjoyed “The Stranger” because even though it was kind of difficult, at least it wasn't boring.