Literature Times
No Result
View All Result
  • American Literature
    • Introduction
    • Novel
      • Introduction
      • Ernest Hemingway
      • Jazz by Toni Morrison
      • The Scarlet Letter
      • To Kill a Mockingbird
    • Plays
      • The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neil
      • The Crucible by Arthur Miller
    • Poetry
      • Adrienne Rich
      • Maya Angelou
      • Sylvia Plath
      • T.S. Eliot
      • Ted Hughes
    • Stories
      • The Masque of the Red Death
      • To Build a Fire
  • Pakistani Literature
    • History
    • Poetry
      • Anniversary by Daud Kamal
    • Novels
      • The Reluctant Fundamentalist
    • Short Stories
      • Toba Tek Singh
  • Postcolonial
    • Introduction
    • Concepts
    • Novels
      • Devil on the Cross
      • Things Fall Apart
  • British Literature
    • History
      • Anglo-Saxon
      • The Age of Chaucer
      • Renaissance Literature
      • Age of Shakespeare
      • The Age of Johnson
      • Elizabethan Age
      • Restoration Period
      • The Age of Milton
      • Victorian Age
    • Novels
      • D.H. Lawrence
        • Sons and Lovers
      • James Joyce
        • A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
      • Jane Austin
        • Pride and Prejudice
      • Mary Shelley
        • Frankenstein
      • Thomas Hardy
        • The Mayor of Casterbridge
      • Virginia Woolf
        • To the Lighthouse
    • Plays
      • August Strindberg
        • Ghost Sonata
      • Christopher Marlowe
        • Doctor Faustus
      • Henrik Ibsen
        • A Doll’s House
      • John Osborne
        • Look Back in Anger
      • William Shakespeare
        • Macbeth
        • Twelfth Night
      • Samuel Beckett
        • Waiting for Godot
        • Words and Music
      • Sophocles
        • Antigone
    • Essayists
      • Jonathan Swift
        • A Modest Proposal
    • Poetry
      • John Milton
        • Paradise Lost
      • Seamus Heaney
      • W.B. Yeats
      • William Wordsworth
      • W.H. Auden
  • More
    • Basics of Literature
    • Greek Mythology
    • Linguistics
    • Literature
    • Novel
    • One Act Play
    • World Literature
      • Short Stories
        • Guy de Maupassant
        • Jorge Luis Borges
          • The Garden of Forking Paths
          • The Library of Babel
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Contact Us
Contact
  • American Literature
    • Introduction
    • Novel
      • Introduction
      • Ernest Hemingway
      • Jazz by Toni Morrison
      • The Scarlet Letter
      • To Kill a Mockingbird
    • Plays
      • The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neil
      • The Crucible by Arthur Miller
    • Poetry
      • Adrienne Rich
      • Maya Angelou
      • Sylvia Plath
      • T.S. Eliot
      • Ted Hughes
    • Stories
      • The Masque of the Red Death
      • To Build a Fire
  • Pakistani Literature
    • History
    • Poetry
      • Anniversary by Daud Kamal
    • Novels
      • The Reluctant Fundamentalist
    • Short Stories
      • Toba Tek Singh
  • Postcolonial
    • Introduction
    • Concepts
    • Novels
      • Devil on the Cross
      • Things Fall Apart
  • British Literature
    • History
      • Anglo-Saxon
      • The Age of Chaucer
      • Renaissance Literature
      • Age of Shakespeare
      • The Age of Johnson
      • Elizabethan Age
      • Restoration Period
      • The Age of Milton
      • Victorian Age
    • Novels
      • D.H. Lawrence
        • Sons and Lovers
      • James Joyce
        • A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
      • Jane Austin
        • Pride and Prejudice
      • Mary Shelley
        • Frankenstein
      • Thomas Hardy
        • The Mayor of Casterbridge
      • Virginia Woolf
        • To the Lighthouse
    • Plays
      • August Strindberg
        • Ghost Sonata
      • Christopher Marlowe
        • Doctor Faustus
      • Henrik Ibsen
        • A Doll’s House
      • John Osborne
        • Look Back in Anger
      • William Shakespeare
        • Macbeth
        • Twelfth Night
      • Samuel Beckett
        • Waiting for Godot
        • Words and Music
      • Sophocles
        • Antigone
    • Essayists
      • Jonathan Swift
        • A Modest Proposal
    • Poetry
      • John Milton
        • Paradise Lost
      • Seamus Heaney
      • W.B. Yeats
      • William Wordsworth
      • W.H. Auden
  • More
    • Basics of Literature
    • Greek Mythology
    • Linguistics
    • Literature
    • Novel
    • One Act Play
    • World Literature
      • Short Stories
        • Guy de Maupassant
        • Jorge Luis Borges
          • The Garden of Forking Paths
          • The Library of Babel
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Literature Times
No Result
View All Result
Home Basics of Literature

Camus’ Three Ways of Solving Absurdity of Human Life | Absurdism for Camus

Shaheer by Shaheer
January 4, 2022
Reading Time: 4 mins read
1
Camus-Three-Ways-of-Solving-Absurdity-of-Human-Life-1

Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913, in Mondovi, a small village near the seaport city of Bone in the northeast region of French Algeria.

In 1957, the Nobel Prize in Literature was warded to Albert Camus whose “clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience…” Camus’ work exemplifies our capacity to impose meaning vis-à-vis the desolation of human existence.

Now, What is the Absurd?

Absurdity refers to the meaninglessness of human existence that derives from its lack of ground or ultimate purpose. We are searching for meaning of life but unfortunately we are faced with life’s meaninglessness.

The absurd surely refers to our failure to find meaning in our life and existence. Man endlessly seeks for meaning, however in the end the world is revealed, to the clear-sighted man, as without determinate purpose or meaning. The absurdity of our situation is caused by the gap between our longings and the ‘real’ in our condition.

Absurdity in The Myth of Sisyphus

Sisyphus was punished by the gods for eternity to roll a rock up to a mountain. However, whenever he reaches the top, the stone would be roll back down to the bottom. Sisyphus has to roll up again to the top of the mountain. Sisyphus continually accepts the struggle even without any hope of success. It is a situation that seems helpless and even suicidal for him. Albert Camus claims that Sisyphus is the ideal absurd hero and he must be considered happy. So long as he accepts that there is nothing more to life than this absurd struggle, then he can find happiness in it.

Read About: Sartre’s Concepts of Existentialism and Their Differences

Three Ways of Solving Absurd Dilemma of Human Life

There are three choices in facing the absurdity of life as:

  • Commit Suicide
  • Belief in Transcendent or Spiritual Being
  • Face the Absurd

For Camus, the first and the second solutions are a type of avading the problem and not is not real solutions.

Physical Suicide

Suicide is introduced by Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus. The choice and decision of committing a suicide is indeed a concern for an existentialist philosopher. The basic questions arises whether life is worth living? To answer it, negatively makes suicide the proper logical alternative. It is in this sense that suicide becomes a philosophical problem. Suicide as a solution to absurd would be a defeat; it is a denial of the very condition of man’s existence. Now, in Camus’ opinion, “Suicide means surrender to absurd, a capitulation. Human pride and greatness are shown neither in surrender nor in the sort of escapism indulged in by the existential philosophers…”

Camus rejects suicide because he believed that we cannot solve the problem of absurd by negating its existence. For him, suicide deals with absurdity simply by suppressing both; human being and the world. Suicide is a way of evading the problem and thus a cowardly solution to the absurd.

Hope in Transcendent Being/Religion

For Camus, “Traditional theological and philosophical standards that give meaning to the life of man are no longer intellectually available to modern man…” Hope is found in alleged solution to the absurd which lies beyond knowledge. It may be God or history or any reason, but such solution similar with suicide does not solve the problem, it eliminates it by arguments for which there is insufficient evidence. For him, this is referred to as “philosophical suicide”.

Now, by appealing to transcendental idea or being, man simply escapes the problem of the absurd. This was considered similar to the Kierkegaardian “leap of faith”.

Facing the Absurd

The last solution is to face/embrace the absurd, suggested by Camus, too. The choice to live with the absurd is valid and authentic choice. Since absurd is unavoidable, the only proper response to it is full and courageous acceptance. He believed that by only living in the face of their own absurdity can human beings achieve their full stature.

Revolt

Revolt is the feeling that helps in the acceptance of absurd. It refers to the refusal of suicide and search for meaning despite the revelation of the absurd. It is the opposition against any perceived unfairness and indignity in the human condition.

Thoughts? Share in the comment section!

And yes! if you need premium accounts at cheapest rate inbox me on my Facebook page at: Premium Palace

Subscribe my YouTube channel at: The Stream Post

Follow on Facebook page of Literature Times at: Literature Times on Facebook

ShareTweetPin
Shaheer

Shaheer

I'm a well-rounded individual who combines technical expertise with creative writing skills to provide comprehensive and compelling content to the readers. My passion for technology, literature, and writing drives them to stay up to date with the latest trends and developments in these areas.

Related Posts

Influence of Karl Marx on Modern English Literature A Comprehensive Analysis
Literature

Influence of Karl Marx on Modern English Literature: A Comprehensive Analysis

October 25, 2024
Who Were the University Wits and Their Impact on Literature
Literature

Who Were the University Wits and Their Impact on Literature?

September 20, 2024
The Power of Future-Focused Literature in Shaping Societies
Literature

The Power of Future-Focused Literature in Shaping Societies

October 1, 2023
Evolution of the Sonnet Form A Comprehensive Overview
Literature

Evolution of the Sonnet Form: A Comprehensive Overview

September 30, 2023
Next Post
Contribution-of-University-Wits-in-English-Literature-1

Contribution of University Wits in English Literature

Where-Did-Surrealism-Originate_-1

Where Did Surrealism Originate? | Characteristics of Surrealism

Comments 1

  1. Eoghan says:
    3 years ago

    This is pretty freaking sweet Shaheer

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended Stories

The Role of Masculine Identity in Hardy's Novels

Exploration of The Role of Masculine Identity in Hardy’s Novels

September 6, 2024
Main Themes of W.H. Auden's Poetry (1) (1)

Major Themes of W.H. Auden’s Poetry

January 4, 2022
Moral Story A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

Moral Story: “A Stitch in Time Saves Nine”

November 5, 2023

Popular Stories

  • Define Tragedy and its elements by Aristotle?

    Define Tragedy and Its Elements

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Evolution of Feminist Literary Criticism: A Comprehensive Guide

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Reluctant Fundamentalist Chapter 9 Summary and Analysis

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Symbolism in Animal Farm

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Evolution of Storytelling: From Oral Tradition to Digital Age

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Literature Times

Literature Times is a platform that provides literary analysis and article focused on English Literature.

LEARN MORE »

Literary Movements

  • Absurdism
  • Aestheticism
  • Existentialism
  • Expressionism
  • Formalism
  • Magical Realism
  • Marxism
  • Naturalism
  • Nihilism
  • Postmodernism
  • Surrealism

Literary Theory

  • F.R. Leavis
  • Matthew Arnold
  • Defamiliarization
  • Formalism
  • Marxism
  • Narratology
  • Post-Structuralism
  • Structuralism

Author’s Pick

  • Basics of Literature
  • Classical Criticism
  • Development of Novel
  • Essays
  • Greek Mythology
  • Moral Stories
  • Reflections

© 2025 Literature Times | Founded by Shaheer

No Result
View All Result
  • American Literature
    • Introduction
    • Novel
      • Introduction
      • Ernest Hemingway
      • Jazz by Toni Morrison
      • The Scarlet Letter
      • To Kill a Mockingbird
    • Plays
      • The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neil
      • The Crucible by Arthur Miller
    • Poetry
      • Adrienne Rich
      • Maya Angelou
      • Sylvia Plath
      • T.S. Eliot
      • Ted Hughes
    • Stories
      • The Masque of the Red Death
      • To Build a Fire
  • Pakistani Literature
    • History
    • Poetry
      • Anniversary by Daud Kamal
    • Novels
      • The Reluctant Fundamentalist
    • Short Stories
      • Toba Tek Singh
  • Postcolonial
    • Introduction
    • Concepts
    • Novels
      • Devil on the Cross
      • Things Fall Apart
  • British Literature
    • History
      • Anglo-Saxon
      • The Age of Chaucer
      • Renaissance Literature
      • Age of Shakespeare
      • The Age of Johnson
      • Elizabethan Age
      • Restoration Period
      • The Age of Milton
      • Victorian Age
    • Novels
      • D.H. Lawrence
      • James Joyce
      • Jane Austin
      • Mary Shelley
      • Thomas Hardy
      • Virginia Woolf
    • Plays
      • August Strindberg
      • Christopher Marlowe
      • Henrik Ibsen
      • John Osborne
      • William Shakespeare
      • Samuel Beckett
      • Sophocles
    • Essayists
      • Jonathan Swift
    • Poetry
      • John Milton
      • Seamus Heaney
      • W.B. Yeats
      • William Wordsworth
      • W.H. Auden
  • More
    • Basics of Literature
    • Greek Mythology
    • Linguistics
    • Literature
    • Novel
    • One Act Play
    • World Literature
      • Short Stories
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Contact Us

© 2025 Literature Times | Founded by Shaheer