David Banks
29-Aug-09, 01:18
Albert Camus, 1913 to 1960, an Algerian by birth, in his book The Myth of Sisyphus, writes (in translation by Justin O'Brien):
"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide."
Additional quotes from the first chapter, in the order in which they appear, are:
"Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest - whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories - comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer."
"What then is that incalculable feeling that deprives the mind of the sleep necessary to life? 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."
"We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking."
Firstly, as one unschooled in literature (by choice; I thought I 'hated' English, particularly literature at THS), I am not sure whether or not a discussion of such literature, as extracted above, would or should be done on a dispassionate level merely reviewing the clarity and cogency of the arguement. Personally, I find such dispassion hard to achieve on such a topic. I had been taught that all serious matters of life would be answered in a different Book.
Having established that my reading, even now at my advancing years, is not occurring as a 'clinical' exercise, I wonder how others have handled reading after 'the light comes on' - the only phrase I can think of using here.
The fact that you are reading this thread leads me to assume you have thought about and achieved some sort of answer to the "problem" posed by Camus. I would be pleased to hear from other readers, no matter how young or old you were when 'smitten' by books.
"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide."
Additional quotes from the first chapter, in the order in which they appear, are:
"Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest - whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories - comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer."
"What then is that incalculable feeling that deprives the mind of the sleep necessary to life? 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."
"We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking."
Firstly, as one unschooled in literature (by choice; I thought I 'hated' English, particularly literature at THS), I am not sure whether or not a discussion of such literature, as extracted above, would or should be done on a dispassionate level merely reviewing the clarity and cogency of the arguement. Personally, I find such dispassion hard to achieve on such a topic. I had been taught that all serious matters of life would be answered in a different Book.
Having established that my reading, even now at my advancing years, is not occurring as a 'clinical' exercise, I wonder how others have handled reading after 'the light comes on' - the only phrase I can think of using here.
The fact that you are reading this thread leads me to assume you have thought about and achieved some sort of answer to the "problem" posed by Camus. I would be pleased to hear from other readers, no matter how young or old you were when 'smitten' by books.