1. Introduction to Existentialism
Literature and Philosophy

2. What is philosophy? What does it all mean? Why are we here?
What should I do with my life?
Philosophers analyze, they pick apart, and then they try to come up with reasons for their beliefs and reasoned answers for their questions.

3. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LOVE IT YOU JUST HAVE TO UNDERSTAND IT.
WARNING:
EXISTENTIALISM DEALS WITH INTENSE THEOLOGICAL (“RELIGIOUS STUDY”) AND ONTOLOGICAL (“STUDY OF BEING”) AS WELL AS EPISTEMOLOGICAL (“STUDY OF KNOWLEDGE”) ISSUES.
THIS CLASS IS NOT ENDORSING EXISTENTIALISM AS BEING ANYTHING MORE THAN MERE THEORY. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR LEARNING THE TENETS OF EXISTENTIALISM AND RELATING THEM TO LITERATURE.
EXISTENTIALISM CAN BE A WEE BIT DEPRESSING IT TENDS TO PROJECT A “LIFE-IS-MEANINGLESS, GLASS-HALF-EMPTY” SORT OF VIEW ON THINGS.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LOVE IT YOU JUST HAVE TO UNDERSTAND IT.

4. The Problem of Meaning Humans crave meaning
A universe that makes sense
Create stories to make sense out of the universe; but when the universe doesn’t cooperate you feel like a stranger in the world

5. EXISTENTIALISM
A complex philosophy emphasizing the existence of the human being, the lack of meaning and purpose in life, and the solitude of human existence…
ANDREW WYETH
Christina’s World (1948)

6. It was during the Second World War, when Europe found itself in a crisis faced with death and destruction, that the existential movement began to flourish, popularized in France in the 1940s…
GEORGIO DE CHIRICO
Love Song

7. Two Different Types of Existentialists
Godly (Kierkegaard; Marcel and Maritain (Catholic); Tillich and Berdyaev (Protestant) and Buber (Jewish))
Believe God exists, but people are alienated from Him.
Man is alienated from his God-like self, and the problem of his life is trying to close that gap
freedom involves accepting the responsibility for choice and committing to the choice
Ungodly (Sartre and Camus)
Do not believe God exists.
“Because there is no God to give purpose to the universe, each man must accept individual responsibility for his own becoming.”
In choosing for himself, he chooses for all men “the image of man as he ought to be.” He has to make good choices that others could follow

8. Big Ideas of Existentialism
Despite encompassing a huge range of philosophical, religious, and political ideologies, the underlying concepts of existentialism are simple…
MARK ROTHKO
Untitled (1968)

9. Existence Precedes Essence
Cogito ergo sum.
Existence Precedes Essence
I think therefore I am
“Existence precedes essence” implies that the human being has no essence (no essential self).

10. Existence Before Essence
People are born like a blank slate and create their essence or being through their unique experiences.

11. Tenant 1: Absurdism
The belief nothing can explain or rationalize human existence.
There is no answer to “Why am I?”
Humans exist in a meaningless, irrational universe and any search for order will bring them into direct conflict with this universe.

12. #2:Alienation or Estrangement
From all other humans
From human institutions
From the past
From the future
We only exist right now, right here…
EDGAR DEGAS
“L’absinthe” (1876)

13. Nothingness and Death
EDVARD MUNCH
Night in Saint Cloud (1890)

14. #3: Nothingness and Death
Death hangs over all of us. Our awareness of it can bring freedom or anguish.
“Nothingness is our inherent lack of self. We are in constant pursuit of a self. Nothingness is the creative well-spring from which all human possibilities can be realized.” –Jean-Paul Sartre

15. #4: Freedom: Choice and Commitment
Humans have freedom to choose
Each individual makes choices that create his or her own nature
Because we choose, we must accept risk and responsibility for wherever our commitments take us
“A human being is absolutely free and absolutely responsible. Anguish is the result.” –Jean-Paul Sartre

16. Dread and Anxiety
MAN RAY
Les Larmes (Tears)

17. #5: Dread and Anxiety
Anxiety stems from our understanding and recognition of the total freedom of choice that confronts us every moment, and the individual’s confrontation with nothingness.

19. The Big Names of Existentialism
Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Heidegger

20. Some Famous Existentialists “A woman is not born…she is created.”
Søren Kierkegaard ( )
Friedrich Nietzsche ( )
Jean-Paul Sartre ( )
Albert Camus ( )
“A woman is not born…she is created.”
de Beauvoir’s most famous text is The Second Sex (1949), which some claim is the basis for current gender studies…

21. Nihilism is the state of belief in nothing
“When you ain’t got nothin’,
you got nothing to lose.” (Bob Dylan)
A nihilist refuses to see this possibility. For the nihilist, when you ain’t got nothin’, you got nothing to win

22. Existential Literature
Three people to know: Jean-Paul Sartre ( ),
Albert Camus ( ) and Simone de Beauvoir ( )

23. Albert Camus: The Smiling Sisyphus

24. Born Nov. 7, 1913 in Mondovi, French Algeria
Father dies in 1914 during World War I, only story Albert knows is that his father became violently ill at a public execution.
Mother was illiterate, partially deaf, and afflicted with a speech disorder – very poor.
Attended elementary in a school close to a Moslem community and saw first-hand the idea of the “outsider” he would later develop.

25. Significant Events
High school: developed a lifetime love for literature, theater, and film.
Also enjoyed soccer for sport and the life lessons it taught him
“I learned that a ball never arrives from a direction you expected it. That helped me later in life, especially in mainland France, where nobody plays straight.”

26. Significant Events
Briefly joined the Communist Party but was disillusioned by the mindless, even absurd, work he was assigned to do.
In the 1940’s his writing began to attract international attention.
In 1957, he was awarded the Nobel Prize. He was grateful, but he felt he had not yet achieved the fame such an award indicated.

27. Significant Events
On January 4, 1960, Camus died tragically in a car accident.

28. The Myth of Sisyphus
Camus publishes this non-fiction work a year after completing The Stranger. In this retelling of the myth of Sisyphus, he embodies his concept of the Absurd.
The story concludes with Camus’ pivotal philosophical statement:
“The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
To understand his point, we must understand the themes that his writing explores.

29. L’Étranger (The Stranger or The Outsider)
A tale of absurdity, death, and coming to grips with the meaning of one’s existence.
L’Étranger (The Stranger or The Outsider)
Written by Albert Camus in 1942

30. Plot Structure/Style
Part I: Narrative Part II: Commentary/Reflection Style is simple/directs: Describes people, places, objects without analyzing emotion. Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes self-determination and responsibility for one’s actions. To act/not to act are the same.

31. Plot Structure/Style
Meursault drifts into relationships and performs actions mindlessly until one of them changes his life and puts him in moral conflict with society.

33. Albert Camus
French philosopher, author, journalist. b. Algeria 1913 d. 1960
No single work by any existentialist has reached more people directly.
The Nobel Prize for literature in 1957 for The Stranger

34. Revolt
“A spirit of opposition against any perceived unfairness, oppression, or indignity in the human condition.” This idea runs counter to existentialism as it proposes that there is a common good that is more important than one’s destiny. True revolt is performed out of compassion for others.

35. never predictable nor controllable.
Camus’ Absurd World
The world of values is
never predictable nor controllable.
“'In our society any man who does not weep at his mother's funeral runs the risk of being sentenced to death.' I only meant that the hero of my book is condemned because he does not play the game.”

36. The Outsider
“The `stranger’ or the outsider observes everything, even his own behavior, from an outside perspective.” Camus lived most of his life being in various groups without being of them. This view requires a “zero- degree” objectivity about everything. Camus had this with friends and community.

37. Characters
Meursault: A French Algerian who learns of his mother's death by telegram. Meursault's indifference to his mother's death demonstrates some emotional detachment from his environment. He is regarded as a stranger to society due to his indifference. Marie Cardona: Young, high-spirited. Delights in swimming and outdoors. Wants to be Meursault’s wife despite is peculiarity and the fact that she does not understand him. Raymond Sintes: Local pimp and Meursault’s neighbor. Violent and jealous. Shows some capacity for loyalty at Meursault’s trial. Salamano: Meursault’s neighbor whose grief at losing his old mangy dog directly contrasts Meursault’s indifference to hi mother’s death.

38. Characters Cont…
Madame Meursault: Her death begins the action of the novel. The Chaplain: Priest who attempts to convince Meursault to take comfort in God. Thomas Perez: One of the residents of the nursing home. He had a relationship with Madame Meursault. His feelings are a foil to Meursault’s indifference. The Prosecutor: The lawyer who argues against Meursault at the trial. He characterizes Meursault as a cool, calculating monster, using Meursault’s lack of an emotional attachment to his mother as his primary evidence.

39. Other characters
Celeste The Arabs Raymond’s girlfriend Magistrate Meursault’s lawyer Meursault’s boss Door keeper at the nursing home Warden at the nursing home

40. Themes of Albert Camus The Absurd Revolt The Outsider
Guilt and Innocence
Christianity vs. Paganism
Individual vs. History and Mass Culture
Suicide
The Death Penalty
Benign indifference of the universe

41. Guilt and Innocence Paganism vs. Christianity
Camus respects the Christianity even uses many Christian symbols in his writing, but he maintains Pagan world views.
There is no clear answer to this in The Stranger. The reader must decide if the character is legally innocent of the murder he is charged with or if he is technically guilty?
It is the struggle between universal guilt (original sin) and universal innocence (pagan primitivism)
“I continue to believe that this world has no supernatural meaning But I know that something in this world has meaning – man.”

42. Individual vs. History and Mass Culture
Modern life has an alienating and dehumanizing effect of man. We live in an age that is becoming more impersonal everyday. If anything, modern man lives the drudgery of Sisyphus in meaningless jobs with mind-numbing repetitions.

43. Suicide Death Penalty
This, for Camus, is the fundamental issue for moral philosophy as it represents the only possible response to the Absurd. In the end, the morally valid response is to continue living.
Camus opposes the death penalty in all of his writings. He considered it “the most premeditated of murders” because it causes the victim to suffer his death every day until it happens.

44. Existentialism?
Although Camus was personally committed to values such as individualism, free choice, inner strength, authenticity, personal responsibility, and self determination, he repeatedly denied that he was an existentialist.
Although he embraced many of the ideas, he believed that for one to be considered anything one must commit themselves totally to that doctrine, he was unwilling to do this.