Well, here I am, on the cusp of finishing The Stranger by Camus. I've gotten part way through The Plague but I had to give the book back. I've also read part of The Age Of Reason by Sartre, but I gave up after he tried to drown his cats by putting them in a burlap bag and throwing them in a river.
It's sad that injustice to innocent animals disturbs me more than injustice to humans. This is what I get for watching too many movies, perhaps.
So I feel that I can say with some degree of certainty that I have a vague understanding of existentialism. (How's that for assertive?!) But what I've noticed is that at least Camus gives his characters some feelings. Meursault (sp?) has a vague desire toward wanting people to like him. The reporter guy, Rambert, in The Plague was desperate to get the hell out of the plague-infested town. But Sartre's character, Mathieu, seemed more trapped and, in a sense, less impassioned toward life around him. His only quest was to seek out freedom. Freedom from his girlfriend, freedom from his cats, freedom from all his responsibilities, but in the end he found himself more and more trapped. His girlfriend was knocked up, he couldn't kill his cats. (Maybe I did finish that book?)
What I see between these books is that the main characters are so indifferent. And they appear to be watching life happen to them. They are not moved by their emotions at all. They are simply not passionate people. They don't seem to have any love within them except in the sense of self-preservation and maybe one other outside philosophical interest.
For someone who runs on unleaded premium emotion, this is so far from my understanding that I can't fathom a life like that. It seems so barren and empty. Only once have I related to the characters- when, in The Plague, inner panic looked a lot like cool indifference. I'm not sure if it was a character that expressed that, but I related because it sounded a lot like I felt when I found out I was pregnant.
I have to finish the book. Then I'll finish the rest of my thoughts.
3 other thoughts:
i've never read it. but from what i'm hearing...i shouldn't. i can't stand non-passionate characters. like Cecil in A Room With a View...they fill me with loathing. of course, in that example, they're supposed to. so i suppose that's ok.
i just re-found my Crime and Punishment. i lose it several times a year...and i've only got a couple chapters left. once finished, it will have taken me two years to read. i'm that awesome.
looking forward to more thoughts. cohesive or not.
Haven't read Crime and Punishment. Is it good? Or should I take a hint from the two years?
It's taken me ten years to finish this one drawing.. I'm doubting that it will ever get finished.
sounds like i need to catch up, nic.
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