Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195181579
- eISBN:
- 9780199786602
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195181573.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Camus’ essay, The Myth of Sisyphus, is a study of what Camus calls “the Absurd”. This chapter explores the various interpretations of that idea, including human mortality and the absurdity of ...
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Camus’ essay, The Myth of Sisyphus, is a study of what Camus calls “the Absurd”. This chapter explores the various interpretations of that idea, including human mortality and the absurdity of repetition.Less
Camus’ essay, The Myth of Sisyphus, is a study of what Camus calls “the Absurd”. This chapter explores the various interpretations of that idea, including human mortality and the absurdity of repetition.
Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195181579
- eISBN:
- 9780199786602
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195181573.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Camus’ novel, The Plague, breaks from the focus on individual experience to talk about solidarity and the experience of being with other people. The titular plague has been interpreted as a metaphor ...
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Camus’ novel, The Plague, breaks from the focus on individual experience to talk about solidarity and the experience of being with other people. The titular plague has been interpreted as a metaphor for the Nazi occupation, but it is interpreted here much more generally and more philosophically as the nature of human mortality and “the Absurd”. The novel also gives us Camus’ clearest statement about the significance of what Sartre calls “Being-for-Others”.Less
Camus’ novel, The Plague, breaks from the focus on individual experience to talk about solidarity and the experience of being with other people. The titular plague has been interpreted as a metaphor for the Nazi occupation, but it is interpreted here much more generally and more philosophically as the nature of human mortality and “the Absurd”. The novel also gives us Camus’ clearest statement about the significance of what Sartre calls “Being-for-Others”.
Robert C. Solomon
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195181579
- eISBN:
- 9780199786602
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195181573.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Camus’s last novel, The Fall, returns to the Absurd and individual experience and the conflict between experience and reflection. Clamence is a brilliant but burnt out Parisian lawyer languishing ...
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Camus’s last novel, The Fall, returns to the Absurd and individual experience and the conflict between experience and reflection. Clamence is a brilliant but burnt out Parisian lawyer languishing away in gloomy Amsterdam. Having escaped from what he describes as his perverse role in the French judicial system, he is living the rest of his days as what he calls a “judge-penitent”, wallowing in his own guilt and doing whatever it takes to escape judgment. But this chapter analyzes the story by focusing on Clamence’s overweening pride.Less
Camus’s last novel, The Fall, returns to the Absurd and individual experience and the conflict between experience and reflection. Clamence is a brilliant but burnt out Parisian lawyer languishing away in gloomy Amsterdam. Having escaped from what he describes as his perverse role in the French judicial system, he is living the rest of his days as what he calls a “judge-penitent”, wallowing in his own guilt and doing whatever it takes to escape judgment. But this chapter analyzes the story by focusing on Clamence’s overweening pride.
Paul M. Zall
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813123714
- eISBN:
- 9780813134864
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813123714.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Political History
Humor is sometimes a serious business, especially the humor of Benjamin Franklin, a master at revealing the human condition through comedy. For the country's bicentennial, Reader's Digest named ...
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Humor is sometimes a serious business, especially the humor of Benjamin Franklin, a master at revealing the human condition through comedy. For the country's bicentennial, Reader's Digest named Franklin “Man of the Year” for embodying the characteristics we admire most about ourselves as Americans: humor, irony, energy, and fresh insight. Recreating Franklin's words in the way that his contemporaries would have read and understood them, this book chronicles Franklin's use (and abuse) of humor for commercial, diplomatic, and political purposes. Dedicated to the uniquely appealing and enduring humor of Benjamin Franklin, the book samples Franklin's apologues on the necessity of living reasonably even when life's circumstances may seem absurd.Less
Humor is sometimes a serious business, especially the humor of Benjamin Franklin, a master at revealing the human condition through comedy. For the country's bicentennial, Reader's Digest named Franklin “Man of the Year” for embodying the characteristics we admire most about ourselves as Americans: humor, irony, energy, and fresh insight. Recreating Franklin's words in the way that his contemporaries would have read and understood them, this book chronicles Franklin's use (and abuse) of humor for commercial, diplomatic, and political purposes. Dedicated to the uniquely appealing and enduring humor of Benjamin Franklin, the book samples Franklin's apologues on the necessity of living reasonably even when life's circumstances may seem absurd.
Louis Niebur
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195368406
- eISBN:
- 9780199863853
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368406.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western, Popular
For lowbrow comedy, children's science fiction, and experimental Third Programme broadcasts, the gradual addition of electronic noise in sound effects technicians' arsenal in the 1950s offered new ...
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For lowbrow comedy, children's science fiction, and experimental Third Programme broadcasts, the gradual addition of electronic noise in sound effects technicians' arsenal in the 1950s offered new sonic options to BBC producers. At first, the mere presence of “electronic sound” was a novelty, but soon, as these sounds began to appear in programming with greater frequency, several producers within the Drama Department began to explore Continental musical techniques. This chapter tells this history and discusses how this curiosity led to the first deliberate domestic productions using concrete techniques. It also introduces a radio‐specific adaptation of Michel Chion's concept of the acousmêtre, traditionally any sound in a film for which the source is invisible, as a way of understanding the appeal of electronic sound in both science fiction and Theatre of the Absurd productions, including Samuel Beckett's All That Fall (1957), the success of which precipitated the opening of the Radiophonic Workshop a year later.Less
For lowbrow comedy, children's science fiction, and experimental Third Programme broadcasts, the gradual addition of electronic noise in sound effects technicians' arsenal in the 1950s offered new sonic options to BBC producers. At first, the mere presence of “electronic sound” was a novelty, but soon, as these sounds began to appear in programming with greater frequency, several producers within the Drama Department began to explore Continental musical techniques. This chapter tells this history and discusses how this curiosity led to the first deliberate domestic productions using concrete techniques. It also introduces a radio‐specific adaptation of Michel Chion's concept of the acousmêtre, traditionally any sound in a film for which the source is invisible, as a way of understanding the appeal of electronic sound in both science fiction and Theatre of the Absurd productions, including Samuel Beckett's All That Fall (1957), the success of which precipitated the opening of the Radiophonic Workshop a year later.
Peter Lamarque
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199577460
- eISBN:
- 9780191722998
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577460.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter identifies a view about the ontology of art in the final sections of Jean-Paul Sartre's novel Nausea and suggests a more positive evaluation of the novel's ending than is commonly ...
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This chapter identifies a view about the ontology of art in the final sections of Jean-Paul Sartre's novel Nausea and suggests a more positive evaluation of the novel's ending than is commonly proposed. A contrast between the nature of objects, as a source of nausea, and the nature of works of art (with the focus on the jazz song ‘Some of These Days’) is drawn in terms of three features: the viscous, the absurd, and the contingent. Reasons for the absence, in Sartre's view, of these features in works of art are elaborated, partly by reference to Sartre's work The Psychology of Imagination, as is the idea that works are objects of the imagination. Sartre's puzzling claim that works of art do not (strictly) exist is explained in terms of the distinctive ontology of art that emerges in the novel.Less
This chapter identifies a view about the ontology of art in the final sections of Jean-Paul Sartre's novel Nausea and suggests a more positive evaluation of the novel's ending than is commonly proposed. A contrast between the nature of objects, as a source of nausea, and the nature of works of art (with the focus on the jazz song ‘Some of These Days’) is drawn in terms of three features: the viscous, the absurd, and the contingent. Reasons for the absence, in Sartre's view, of these features in works of art are elaborated, partly by reference to Sartre's work The Psychology of Imagination, as is the idea that works are objects of the imagination. Sartre's puzzling claim that works of art do not (strictly) exist is explained in terms of the distinctive ontology of art that emerges in the novel.
Neil Cornwell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719074097
- eISBN:
- 9781781700969
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719074097.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This chapter introduces the concept of the absurd, which is frequently used in literature and is defined as something applied to the modern sense of human purposelessness in a universe with no ...
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This chapter introduces the concept of the absurd, which is frequently used in literature and is defined as something applied to the modern sense of human purposelessness in a universe with no meaning or value. It studies the connections the absurd has to nihilism, existentialism and ontology, and then takes a look at ‘negative theology’, which is relevant to practitioners of the absurd. From there, the discussion considers the problems related to the perception of inherent absurdity and the deconstruction of a philosophical system into nonsense, contradiction and absurdity. The chapter also considers the concept of the socio-linguistic absurd, as well as the nature of jokes and humour.Less
This chapter introduces the concept of the absurd, which is frequently used in literature and is defined as something applied to the modern sense of human purposelessness in a universe with no meaning or value. It studies the connections the absurd has to nihilism, existentialism and ontology, and then takes a look at ‘negative theology’, which is relevant to practitioners of the absurd. From there, the discussion considers the problems related to the perception of inherent absurdity and the deconstruction of a philosophical system into nonsense, contradiction and absurdity. The chapter also considers the concept of the socio-linguistic absurd, as well as the nature of jokes and humour.
Neil Cornwell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719074097
- eISBN:
- 9781781700969
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719074097.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This book offers a comprehensive account of the absurd in prose fiction. As well as providing a basis for courses on absurdist literature (whether in fiction or in drama), it offers a broadly based ...
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This book offers a comprehensive account of the absurd in prose fiction. As well as providing a basis for courses on absurdist literature (whether in fiction or in drama), it offers a broadly based philosophical background. Sections covering theoretical approaches and an overview of the historical literary antecedents to the ‘modern’ absurd introduce the largely twentieth-century core chapters. In addition to discussing a variety of literary movements (from Surrealism to the Russian OBERIU), the book offers detailed case studies of four prominent exponents of the absurd: Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, Daniil Kharms and Flann O'Brien. There is also wide discussion of other English-language and European contributors to the phenomenon of the absurd.Less
This book offers a comprehensive account of the absurd in prose fiction. As well as providing a basis for courses on absurdist literature (whether in fiction or in drama), it offers a broadly based philosophical background. Sections covering theoretical approaches and an overview of the historical literary antecedents to the ‘modern’ absurd introduce the largely twentieth-century core chapters. In addition to discussing a variety of literary movements (from Surrealism to the Russian OBERIU), the book offers detailed case studies of four prominent exponents of the absurd: Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, Daniil Kharms and Flann O'Brien. There is also wide discussion of other English-language and European contributors to the phenomenon of the absurd.
Joseph Frank
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780823239252
- eISBN:
- 9780823239290
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823239252.003.0014
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
In the aftermath of World War II, there was a great influx of refugees into the United States, three of whom were Mircea Eliade, E. M. Cioran, and Eugène Ionesco. Eliade, the much-admired historian ...
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In the aftermath of World War II, there was a great influx of refugees into the United States, three of whom were Mircea Eliade, E. M. Cioran, and Eugène Ionesco. Eliade, the much-admired historian of religion, appears, under a fictitious name, in Saul Bellow's novel Ravelstein. His books on the history of religion elevated him to a commanding height in the field, and he attained fame as a novelist both in his own country and in France. Cioran, known for his brilliantly disillusioned reflections on history and culture, written first in Romanian and then in French, was praised as one of the greatest contemporary stylists in his adopted language. Ionesco pioneered the vogue of the theater of the absurd, and his comic but also symbolically tragic plays were performed everywhere; eventually he was elected to the Académie Française. All three men were the subjects of a fascinating French study, Cioran, Eliade, Ionesco: L'Oubli du fascisme (2002), written by Alexandra Laignel-Lavastine.Less
In the aftermath of World War II, there was a great influx of refugees into the United States, three of whom were Mircea Eliade, E. M. Cioran, and Eugène Ionesco. Eliade, the much-admired historian of religion, appears, under a fictitious name, in Saul Bellow's novel Ravelstein. His books on the history of religion elevated him to a commanding height in the field, and he attained fame as a novelist both in his own country and in France. Cioran, known for his brilliantly disillusioned reflections on history and culture, written first in Romanian and then in French, was praised as one of the greatest contemporary stylists in his adopted language. Ionesco pioneered the vogue of the theater of the absurd, and his comic but also symbolically tragic plays were performed everywhere; eventually he was elected to the Académie Française. All three men were the subjects of a fascinating French study, Cioran, Eliade, Ionesco: L'Oubli du fascisme (2002), written by Alexandra Laignel-Lavastine.
Neil Cornwell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719074097
- eISBN:
- 9781781700969
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719074097.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This chapter discusses absurdist practice during the twentieth century, examining absurdism in the works of some writers, namely Fernando Pessoa, Antonin Artaud and Camus. It notes that these writers ...
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This chapter discusses absurdist practice during the twentieth century, examining absurdism in the works of some writers, namely Fernando Pessoa, Antonin Artaud and Camus. It notes that these writers can be regarded as absurdists, and that they sometimes embrace absurdist qualities. The chapter also clarifies that the use of the word ‘absurd’ does not guarantee that a work is to be considered – with justification – as fully or solely belonging to the ‘literature of the absurd’.Less
This chapter discusses absurdist practice during the twentieth century, examining absurdism in the works of some writers, namely Fernando Pessoa, Antonin Artaud and Camus. It notes that these writers can be regarded as absurdists, and that they sometimes embrace absurdist qualities. The chapter also clarifies that the use of the word ‘absurd’ does not guarantee that a work is to be considered – with justification – as fully or solely belonging to the ‘literature of the absurd’.
