Jean Sartre Essays - Philosophy Of Life, The Myth Of Sisyphus

Jean Sartre On of the major playwrights during this period was Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre had been imprisoned in Germany in 1940 but managed to escape, and become one of the leaders of the Existential movement. Other popular playwrights were Albert Camus, and Jean Anouilh. Just like Anouilh, Camus accidentally became the spokesman for the French Underground when he wrote his famous essay, "Le Mythe de Sisyphe" or "The Myth of Sisyphus". Sisyphus was the man condemned by the gods to roll a rock to the top of a mountain, only to have it roll back down again. For Camus, this related heavily to everyday life, and he saw Sisyphus an "absurd" hero, with a pointless existance. Camus felt that it was necessary to wonder what the meaning of life was, and that the human being longed for some sense of clarity in the world, since "if the world were clear, art would not exist". "The Myth of Sisyphus" became a prototype for existentialism in the theatre, and eventually The Theatre of the Absurd. Sisyphus is the absurd hero. This man, sentenced to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain and then watching its descent, is the epitome of the absurd hero according to Camus. In retelling the Myth of Sisyphus, Camus is able to create an extremely powerful image with imaginative force which sums up in an emotional sense the body of the intellectual discussion which precedes it in the book. We are told that Sisyphus is the absurd hero "as much through his passions as through his torture. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing." (p.89). Sisyphus is conscious of his plight , and therein lies the tragedy. For if, during the moments of descent, he nourished the hope that he would yet succeed, then his labour would lose its torment. But Sisyphus is clearly conscious of the extent of his own misery. It is this lucid recognition of his destiny that transforms his torment into his victory. It has to be a victory for as Camus says: I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. 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 towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy. (p.91).Sisyphus' life and torment are transformed into a victory by concentrating on his freedom, his refusal to hope, and his knowledge of the absurdity of his situation. In the same way, Dr. Rieux is an absurd hero in The Plague, for he too is under sentence of death, is trapped by a seemingly unending torment and, like Sisyphus, he continues to perform his duty no matter how useless or how insignificant his action. In both cases it matters little for what reason they continue to struggle so long as they testify to man's allegiance to man and not to abstractions or 'absolutes'. The ideas behind the development of the absurd hero are present in the first three essays of the book. In these essays Camus faces the problem of suicide. In his typically shocking, unnerving manner he opens with the bold assertion that: There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. (p. 3).He goes on to discover if suicide is a legitimate answer to the human predicament. Or to put it another way: Is life worth living now that god is dead? The discussion begins and continues not as a metaphysical cobweb but as a well reasoned statement based on a way of knowing which Camus holds is the only epistemology we have at our command. We know only two things:This heart within me I can feel, and I judge that it exists. This world I can touch, and I likewise judge that it exists. There ends all my knowledge, and the rest is construction. (p. 14)With these as the basic certainties of the human condition, Camus argues that there is no meaning to life. He disapproves of the many philosophers who "have played on words and pretended to believe that refusing to grant a meaning to life necessarily leads to declaring that it is not

Follow the Guidelines is Not a Cliché

Follow the Guidelines is Not a Clichà © Agents say it all the time. Editors believe in it and cant wait for an excuse to delete a submission when someone ignores it. Websites and writing guides everywhere say, Follow the guidelines carefully, or Become familiar with the publication. Yet I dare say half of todays submissions do not do either. If you DO follow the guidelines, the person youre pitching will instantly give you better consideration. Im serious. Thats all it takes. There are that many submissions that fail to adhere to the rules that finding one that does is refreshing. Recently several places noted FundsforWriters as a paying market. FFW indeed pays up to $50 for   a solid 550-600-word piece for the newsletter. The flood gates opened and in came the submissions. I was excited. I love opening a query from a writer who obviously read the guidelines at https://fundsforwriters.com/submissions . Instantly, I see that author as serious, attentive to details, and understanding of FundsforWriters needs. Some pieces just arent quite what Im looking for. Maybe a little lightweight. Maybe there are nonpaying markets involved (I dont do nonpaying in FundsforWriters). Maybe its a story so far out there that it wouldnt apply to many of my readers. Thats okay. A rejection is in order, but I explain why and thank them for submitting. Then there are others. Some of them present a concept I like, but the effort of editing makes it not worth the payment. Every editors time is precious. If a writer submits a piece that needs work, regardless the subject, an editor cant use it. FundsforWriters is always open to submissions. Ive booked articles as far as six months out, but I dont close down submissions. But while Ive got your attention, Ill post a few of my pet peeves, items that require me to email back and forth with a writer. Trust me, an editor prefers a clean package all in one submission, requiring minimal back and forth. 1) Academic writing. All theory. No anecdotes. No takeaway, practical value. No personality. 2) ESL writing. I do not mind submissions from around the world, but if I must clean up the grammar to make it work, regardless the topic, I wont. 3) Elementary topic, commonly read on many blogs. 4) How-to without links, resources, and examples. 5) Assorted fonts in one article. Editors format. Writers write. 6) No