The myth of Sisyphus

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The myth of Sisyphus . Old translation, 1995 edition

The Myth of Sisyphos (French original title: Le mythe de Sisyphe ) is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus from 1942 , published by Gallimard in Paris. The first German translation from 1950 is entitled Der Mythos von Sisyphus. An attempt at the absurd .

Classification in Camus' work

The myth of Sisyphus is the most important philosophical work of Camus , alongside The Man in Revolt ( L'homme révolté ). In The Myth of Sisyphus Camus develops his philosophy of the absurd , which is closely related to existentialism . The essay can be seen in connection with the play Caligula (world premiere in 1945) and the novel Der Fremde ( L'Étranger , 1942). The theme of the absurd, which Camus develops in this work, is not only found in these works, but also permeates Camus' oeuvre, for example these motifs are also present in Die Pest ( La Peste , 1947).

In 1948 the work appeared for the first time with the Kafka study, which was not included in the first print, and in 1965 the last version still reviewed by Camus appeared.

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One cannot escape the absurd

For Camus, humans are in an absurd situation. The absurd lies in the tension between the senselessness of the world on the one hand and the human longing for meaning or meaningful action. What conclusions can be drawn from this “hopeless” situation?

Camus shows the contradictions of the suicide justified by the absurdity . Then he deals with thinkers who have recognized the absurdity of the human situation, in particular the existential philosophers Kierkegaard , Heidegger , Jaspers , but also the phenomenologist Husserl , as well as other philosophers and writers such as Schestow , Dostoyevsky , Kafka and Nietzsche . However, after analyzing the situation, possibly with the exception of Nietzsche, these thinkers, the protagonists of the poets, would have drawn the wrong conclusions by trying to escape the absurdity - sacrificing their clear mind - through an irrational “leap” (saut) . Depending on the thinker, this leap consists in taking refuge in metaphysical , aesthetic, religious or rationalistic offers of salvation. Camus on this:

“If there is the absurd, it is only in the human universe. As soon as this term turns into a stepping stone to eternity, it is no longer associated with human clairvoyance. Then the absurd is no longer the evidence that humans establish without consenting to it. The fight is then avoided. The human being integrates the absurd and thus lets his actual essence disappear, which is opposition, turmoil and division. This jump is an evasion. "

- The myth of Sisyphus. An attempt at the absurd. : 6th edition, Reinbek, 2004, p. 50f.

Constant revolt and accepting absurdity as the solution

There are three successive levels of dealing with absurdity:

  1. their realization
  2. their adoption
  3. the rebellious revolt

In the revolt against the absurd, as a reaction to the acceptance of the absurd, the "absurd man" can realize himself and find freedom . However, even Camus cannot escape the actual cause of the absurdity, death:

“What remains is a fate in which the end alone is fatal. Aside from this one fatal inevitability of death, everything, be it joy or happiness, is nothing but freedom. A world remains in which man is the only master. "
("Ce qui reste, c'est un destin dont seule l'issue est fatale. En dehors de cette unique fatalité de la mort, tout, joie ou bonheur, est liberté. Un monde demeure dont l'homme est le seul maître. " From: Le mythe de Sisyphe; own translation)

In this, according to Camus' interpretation, man resembles the mythological figure of Sisyphus , whose actions appear to be self-actualization in their extreme and persistent senselessness:

“This is the hidden joy of Sisyphus. His fate is his. His rock is his business. [...] The absurd person says yes, and his effort never stops. If there is a personal fate, then there is no higher fate, or at least only one that he finds ominous and despicable. In addition, he knows himself to be the master of his day. At that particular moment in which man turns to his life, Sisyphus, returning to his stone, contemplates the series of incoherent actions that will become his destiny as created by him, united under the gaze of his memory and soon sealed by death . So convinced of the completely human origin of everything human, a blind man who wants to see and knows that the night has no end, he is always on the move. The stone is still rolling. […] This universe, which now no longer knows a master, does not seem sterile or worthless to him. Every grain of this stone, every mineral flash in this mountain shrouded in night is a world of its own. The fight against summits can fill a human heart. We have to imagine Sisyphus as a happy person. "

- The myth of Sisyphus : 6th edition, Reinbek, 2004. S. 159f.

Translations

A first German translation appeared in 1950 under the title The Myth of Sisyphos. An experiment on the absurd in Karl Rauch Verlag. The translators were Hans Georg Brenner and Wolfdietrich Rasch . An epilogue in the form of commenting essays wrote Liselotte Richter for Rowohlt edition of 1959. In 2000 a new translation of published Vincent of Wroblewsky under the current title The Myth of Sisyphus in the Rowohlt Verlag .

literature

Web links

  • Le Mythe de Sisyphe - Sources, texts, works, translations, media on Wikilivres (also known as Bibliowiki )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lt. Afterword by Vincent von Wroblewsky to Rowohlt's new translation
  2. ↑ Albert Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus. An attempt at the absurd. Rowohlt Taschenbuch 1995 ISBN 3-499-12375-4 (translator, edition and epilogue)
  3. ↑ Eberhard Rathgeb: Review: Fiction. Sisyphus goes to war. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 25, 1999, accessed on July 4, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Yves Bossart: Albert Camus - Fortunately, life has no meaning! Swiss radio and television , November 7, 2013, accessed on July 4, 2015 .