Literary Existenalism
Both French authors you are reading this week—Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus—are associated with
the philosophical movement known as Existen!alism. Although Sartre’s and Camus’s literary works are
much more than simply illustra!ons of their philosophical ideas, it is nevertheless important to have an
understanding of some of the basic tenets of Existen!alism in order to fully appreciate these authors’
stories.
The Existen!alists placed a high value on individualism—but the individual self is o’en experienced as
miserable, wretched, revol!ng, and lonely. Most Existen!alists accept the non-existence of God. (There
are Chris!an Existen!alists, but they usually reject the no!on of God’s omnipotence. They believe that
God exists, that He has a rela!onship with us, and that He is good—but not all powerful.)
For the Existen!alist, the universe is meaningless, consis!ng of physical nature, which the Existen!alists
refer to as brute fact. Nature is indi0erent to human beings, and Existen!alist literature is o’en filled
with images of a natural world that is harsh, cruel, and forbidding to human beings. The contrast
between the meaninglessness of the world and man’s desire to impose meaning upon the world is
known as absurdity.
This all, no doubt, is sounding rather grim! But there is a source of op!mism in Existen!alist philosophy.
The Existen!alists argue that, in the very meaninglessness and nothingness of the world lies our
poten!al for freedom—and freedom is humankind’s saving grace. While it is true that the individual
may suffer from extreme self-consciousness and o’en experiences unpleasant emo!ons–anxiety, fear,
trembling, dread, and despair—it is equally true that the individual is capable of achieving joy through
