The Myth of Sisyphus, and Other Essays | 
pickI have listened to this twice in a row now and I have come to the conclusion that I cannot listen to philosophy texts on audiobook. Perhaps it‘s because I can‘t take the time to digest what I‘m reading the same way I can with a physical book (unless I pause it every other minute).
It is no fault of Camus; there is some great stuff here, but even Edoardo Ballerini‘s fantastic voice and impeccable delivery couldn‘t keep me entirely engaged.
Moving some books around. I worry I'm in over my head.
so-soA book worth discussing more than reviewing. Sometimes the less I like a book the more I have to say about it.
pickIn Greek mythology, Sisyphus was condemned for all eternity to roll a rock up a mountain only to have it roll back down when he reaches the top.Sisyphus struggles perpetually without hope of success and is the ideal absurd hero according to Camus.
This book is an essay on what Camus calls the absurd and it discusses the philosophical problem of suicide. In the last part of the book Camus has analysed Kafka‘s works and is extremely interesting.
“Man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.”
He really needs to ditch that rock!
#QuotsyJan20 | 17: #Ditch
📷: Made with Typorama
I wasn‘t going to buy physical books in the sales. I did get a few ebooks for my #newyearwhodis challenge with @Caterina and I said I wasn‘t gonna spend money on more physical stuff when money is tight but these were 2 for Qd and I couldn‘t resist! This is all I‘ll be getting in the sales hopefully, I‘m saving hard atm, but I don‘t regret it!
Not sure why Bitmoji made me a Sisyphus bitmoji, but it seems appropriate.
Look at these gifts from my sweet kiddos for Mother‘s Day! They know me so well. 🥰
A book is not only a companion in the hardest times of your life, it can also be a life changer, it is really odd that hundreds of pages written by someone, somewhere in a whole different era, could get straight into your heart, break the walls of your mind, and speak to you in your hardest situation better than any creature can do, and every written word becomes weirdly relatable. This one of the books that felt me more than any living soul.
“Artists of the past could at least keep silent in the face of tyranny. The tyrannies of today are improved; they no longer admit of silence or neutrality. One has to take a stand, be either for or against. Well, in that case, I am against.”
I wonder what Camus would make of today.
“There is something implacable about the desert. The mineral sky of Oran, her streets and trees in their coating of dust -everything contributes to creating this dense and impassible universe in which the heart and mind are never distracted from themselves, nor from their sole object, which is man.”
From the essay “The Minotaur”
Image source: http://www.villedoran.com/p5.html
@vivastory @batsy thought you might find this interesting. Camus‘ take on Dostoyevsky :)
“Creating is living doubly. The groping, anxious quest of a Proust, his meticulous collecting of flowers, of wallpapers, and of anxieties, signifies nothing else.”
“A man wants to earn money in order to be happy and his whole effort and the best of a life are devoted to the earning of that money. Happiness is forgotten; the means are taken for the end.”
Unless you‘re lucky enough to have a fulfilling job that you enjoy. Ugh, It‘s too early in the morning to start getting depressed, lol.
“There is so much stubborn hope in the human heart”.
Indeed there is. Happy Tuesday :)
“Conquerors sometimes talk about vanquishing and overcoming. But it is always ‘overcoming oneself‘ that they mean.”
Reading during my lunch break, wish I had the day off, cloudy days are perfect for reading! 🌧
Reading that @Trashcanman is diving into the tagged book, these beauties were in my stash.I mourn the fact that people don‘t have a bookstore around that have strong poetry & philosophy sections, I know that these topics are not at the top of some folks interests, but the magic of going into a section of the bookstore you generally don‘t go to & finding something that shocks your mind awake with wonder is one of the best experiences you can have.
“Thus the absurd man realizes that he was not really free. To speak clearly, to the extent to which I hope, to which I worry about a truth that might be individual to me, about a way of being or creating, to the extent to which I arrange my life and prove thereby that I accept its having a meaning, I create for myself barriers between which I confine my life.”
“This very heart which is mine will forever remain undefinable to me. Between the certainty I have of my existence and the content I try to give to that assurance, the gap will never be filled. Forever I shall be a stranger to myself.”
All I can say is that Banana peanut butter ice cream is the perfect pairing for this book.
“Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future.”
“The fundamental subject of The Myth of Sisyphus is this: it is legitimate and necessary to wonder wether life has a meaning; therefore it is legitimate to meet the problem of suicide face to face... Although The Myth of Sisyphus poses mortal problems, it sums itself up for me as a lucid invitation to live and create, in the very midst of the desert”
In truth the way matters very little. The will to arrive suffices.
pickDense as hell but worth the effort. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For there is merely bad luck in not being loved; there is misfortune in not loving. All of us, today, are longing for this misfortune. For violence and hate to dry up the heart itself; the long fight for justice exhausts the love that nevertheless gave birth to it. In the clamor in which we live, Love is impossible and justice does not suffice.
“A world that can be explained even with bad reasons is a familiar world. But, on the other hand, in a universe suddenly divested of illusions and lights, man feels an alien, a stranger. His exile is without remedy since he is deprived of the memory of a lost home or the hope of a promised land.”
"It is true that those princes are without a kingdom. But they have this advantage: they know that all royalties are illusion."
Booo! Last day of #novemberbythenumbers I really loved this challenge! Thanks to everyone who participated! All of the posts were so fun and creative! #30 . 🔺 In 'The Myth of Sisyphus' Albert Camus comments that the age of 3️⃣0️⃣ is a crucial period in the life of a man, for at that age he gains a new awareness of the meaning of time.
Camus is a more recent reading discovery for me. I was missing out. #quotsy #quotsynov17 #absurdity
I‘m not much of an essay person but I do remember reading this back in high school and enjoying it. For some reason I really do like Camus and other absurdist works. #essays #noteworthynovember
Finally on a third attempt approaching the end of the title essay, this copy is now littered with underlinings and I will definitely be going back to try and glean more detail from Camus's essay because so much of it is so fascinating and thought-provoking!
Finally getting stuck into #nonfictionnovember
I was looking for #shadesofautumn on my shelves and saw this group of weathered paperbacks that made me think of fall leaves. #fallintobooks
Man is always prey to his truths. Once he has admitted them, he cannot free himself from them.
This is the only quote I've heard that's solaced me post-election. I'm going to need a lot of great art these next four years...or eight.
Happy Birthday to Albert Camus, one of my all-time favorite philosophers.
Happy Birthday, Albert Camus, born on this day, Nov 7, in 1913. #OOPquote
All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street-corner or in a restaurant‘s revolving door.
"This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."
