About this book
The summation of the existentialist philosophy threaded throughout all his writing, Albert Camus' <i>The Myth of Sisyphus</i> is translated by Justin O'Brien with an introduction by James Wood in Penguin Classics.<br><br>In this profound and moving philosophical statement, Camus poses the fundamental question: is life worth living? If human existence holds no significance, what can keep us from suicide? As Camus argues, if there is no God to give meaning to our lives, humans must take on that purpose themselves. This is our 'absurd' task, like Sisyphus forever rolling his rock up a hill, as the inevitability of death constantly overshadows us. Written during the bleakest days of the Second World War, <i>The Myth of Sisyphus</i> (<i>Le Mythe de Sisyphe</i>) argues for an acceptance of reality that encompasses revolt, passion and, above all, liberty. <br><br>This volume contains several other essays, including lyrical evocations of the sunlit cities of Algiers and Oran, the settings of his great novels <i>The Outsider</i> and <i>The Plague</i>.<br><br>Albert Camus (1913-60) is the author of a number of best-selling and highly influential works, all of which are published by Penguin. They include <i>The Fall</i>, <i>The Outsider </i>and <i>The First Man. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, Camus is remembered as one of the few writers to have shaped the intellectual climate of post-war France, but beyond that, his fame has been international.</i><br><br>If you enjoyed <i>The Myth of Sisyphus</i>, you might like Camus' <i>The Outsider</i>, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.<br><br>'Camus could never cease to be one of the principal forces in our domain, nor to represent, in his own way, the history of France and of this century'<br>Jean-Paul Sartre
About Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French Algerian author, philosopher, and journalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. He was a key philosopher of the 20th-century and his most famous work is the novel *L'Étranger* (*The Stranger*).
In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was a group opposed to some tendencies of the surrealistic movement of André Breton. Camus was the second-youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature - after Rudyard Kipling - when he became the first African-born writer to receive the award. He is the shortest-lived of any literature laureate to date, having died in an automobile accident just over two years after receiving the award.
He is often cited as a proponent of existentialism, the philosophy that he was associated with during his own lifetime, but Camus himself rejected this particular label. In an interview in 1945, Camus rejected any ideological associations: "No, I am not an existentialist. Sartre and I are always surprised to see our names linked…"
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