The Myth of Sisyphus

The thoughts the author is putting forward are difficult here in part because we are watching him work them out on the page. It isn't as though he ever stops to give a simple description of exactly what he intends when referring to the absurd, only that it goes far beyond what we usually mean by the term. The human mind is confronted by the absurd in the course of life, something they cannot get around, and the author speaks approvingly of the one who can nevertheless respond with vitality out of their own inner truth. Whatever they choose to do, it comes of a heroism in the same way Kierkegaard's imagined personas react with deep passion rather then with weak hope. The forces acting on the individual are so much more powerful than they can counter, and yet they push on as long as possible rather than surrender. Only when they can make no more meaningful progress does the spectre of suicide enter.

He talks about the seducer Don Juan as an example of a character who acts out of his own internal program in the face of absurdity. And in the brief title piece it is the soul of Sisyphus who has the autonomy only to embrace his fate through eternity. This was worth pondering a few times over to get the point of exactly how the damned soul could be seen as happy. He addresses points of philosophy by Shestov and Husserl and Jaspers that I was badly equipped to understand even in broad outline, which could be frustrating for many readers.

The author's writing is beautifully compelling in many places when he expounding on his own understanding of moral philosophy or in the appendices where he is explaining his heartfelt reactions to the places he knew as a child. It took me a long time to make it through this audiobook but it felt exhilarating when I could grasp the thread of his argument.