
Albert Camus: The Life of the Artist – A Mimodrama in Two Parts (1953) - npalli
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/08/the-life-of-the-artist-a-mimodrama-in-two-parts.html
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gamegoblin
To anyone who hasn't read Camus: I cannot recommend reading The Stranger and
The Myth of Sisyphus enough. They are probably the two most influential books
in regard to my outlook on life.

~~~
woqe
Can you elaborate on how The Stranger influenced your outlook on life?

I ask because the person who recommended it to me saw the protagonist as a
hero -- someone inspiring.

I read it as a cautionary tale. It showed me one could be apathetic to a fault
in regards to their fate. The only thing he seemed to care about was actively
not caring about his or others' lives.

~~~
gamegoblin
I had a pretty troubled childhood, and I surrounded myself in an armor of
logic. I acted a bit like Spock, I guess. I tried to reject emotion and act
only on logic. This did lead me to develop early mathematical and programming
skills, but hindered a healthy worldview. I was firmly convinced that the
universe was based in logic and that the meaning and reason of everything
could be derived by logical thinking.

When I got older and moved away from home, I began to better understand "The
Absurd" that Camus talks about. I had been struggling with the idea that I
sought a logical reason for absolutely everything, but was unable to find one
in many cases.

The acceptance of "The Absurd" allowed me to deal with the fact that meaning
is often obscured or unattainable. I find it much easier to accept the world
as it is without burdening myself with attempting (futilely) to logically
explain everything. Things just _are_.

That being said, I don't reject logic at all; a question I was struggling with
was "logically, why should I value logic?" Camus helped explain to me the
absurdity of this question, and existence, and to accept that it would remain
unanswered.

Camus also helped me to find joy in struggle. He says "The struggle to the
summits suffices to fill the heart of man. One must imagine Sisyphus happy." I
now accept that there isn't any deeper meaning to struggle and it's important
to live in the moment. Everyone is struggling in their own way. Everyone is
struggling for their own desires, and at the deepest level, there is no reason
for it.

Another book I recommend for the same reasons as above is Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance.

~~~
locacorten
I relate to your description growing up quite a bit. To be honest, getting
older I've become very disappointed by the world and its imperfections. In any
case, I don't know if talking about me is interesting to anyone.

However, I have to disagree with your conclusion (based on Camus) that
questions remain unanswered. I think that's a failure -- Camus's failure as
well as yours. It's easy to throw up your hands and say "I don't know. It is
what it is." This is precisely the reason why I think "The Stranger" is a book
with a lot of potential but ends up a failure. I suspect leaving things in
limbo at the end is often masking the writer's (or director's) shortcomings.

You're probably happy with your life as a result, but you're taking the easy
road and that road leads to nowhere.

In the meantime, I'll continue to stay unhappy and flabbergasted by the
discrepancy between logic and fairness on one side and society on the other.

~~~
cgag
All roads lead to nowhere.

~~~
badman_ting
Yes, precisely.

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paraschopra
If I had heros, Camus would be one of my few heros. The idea that life is not
just meaningless, but rather absurd is quite a relief. What I like about him
is that in his writings, he does not offer any solace. He does not promise
that we will magically become satisfied with life and existence, rather he
writes about the confusion between living and suicide, and interestingly, he
argues that both choices are equally absurd. He does argue for morality. The
reader is thrown into that dizzying choice where no option is preferential, so
the choice to live is rather arbitrary. The realization that life is absurd
freezes you for a moment. Though, since life is rather meaningless, I feel it
also unchains a person from all those pressures and norms set by society,
religion and family. The thought represents true freedom.

Camus also seems to be one of the philosophers who actually looked cool.

~~~
javajosh
I think that rather than trying to discover the meaning of life while we're
busily burning fossil fuels on a single planet that we'd be better off punting
on the issue until life in general, and humans in particular, have managed to
sustainably spread beyond Earth (and of course demonstrate better care-taking
of the world we do have). Until we achieve that end, Camus' philosophy is
useless, and in some cases actively harmful.

(Once we're on a few tens of planets, navel-gaze all you want.)

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gamegoblin
Useless and harmful from your point of view.

Meaningless from a universal point of view.

~~~
javajosh
The "universal point of view" should register an account and speak up for
itself.

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eshvk
That was stunningly beautiful. I am really digging the new spate of literary
articles that have been showing up in my HN feed. Thank you OP.

~~~
npalli
Glad you liked it.

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stefantalpalaru
Beautiful. The only thing out of place was the "Posted by Albert Camus"
anachronism.

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tangue
" _Encumbered, he cannot move and is stuck in this pose. Then an official
painter, who paints his portrait, arrives, then a second painter, who paints a
portrait of the first painter painting the hero, then a third, and so on.
Everyone chatters in the light, the ribbons, the dogs, the easels. With great
pageantry, somebody brings the painter a mirror so that he may gaze at
himself._ "

Beautiful. I've never heard of this one, though I'm a french native speaker
and was quite interested in post-ww2 literature during my twenties.

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serf
Thanks for reminding me of the talent Camus possessed. The Stranger shaped me
as a teen, and this brings me back.

