Camus and the absurd

Abstract

Abstract What is the absurd? ‘Camus and the absurd’ explains that the absurd is a feeling that comes out of experience. For Camus it was a near-death experience: the brutal onset of tuberculosis at the age of 17. The absurd convinced Camus that there is no meaning to life because it could be cut short at any moment. His first three major works, Caligula, The Stranger, and The Myth of Sisyphus, are described. They were about narrating the absurd experiences, and the sometime violent clashes between those awakened to the absurdity of life and those who choose to ignore it.