Existentialism discussion

Hi,

I'm looking for a book - my first read on the philosophy of existentialism.

To begin with, i'd like, something not too dense & serious,but a title & author that will introduce me to the philosophy and be an interesting read as well.
I also have a deadline of about 20 days in which to finish the book for my next book club.

Will appreciate some suggestions of a few books..

Thanks!

Hi Neha,
The book I would suggest to you would be The Stranger Albert CamusThe Stranger.

It is one of the more accessible books, and it is fiction. Unless, you want to jump into direct philosophy of Existentialism, this book would be a good place to begin.Also, this is a short book, that you can finish in less than 20 days.

Other books that are at the top of my mind are
Nausea and
Notes from Underground.

But these should not be read in a hurry(my suggestion)


Regards

Hi Rahul,

Thanks for the suggestions! Just zeroed in on The stranger earlier today..
Will go for the other two after this. Being and Nothingness is also on my list.
Thanks again.
Please keep the suggestions coming. :)

Being and Nothingness is a very big book, both in terms of size and the ideas it tries to put forward.

As you read the Stranger and get your feet wet with the ideas of Existentialism , you should try exploring more Existential fiction and then go for the essays and such.

Point noted!

Néha wrote: "Hi Rahul,

Thanks for the suggestions! Just zeroed in on The stranger earlier today..
Will go for the other two after this. Being and Nothingness is also on my list.
Thanks again.
Please keep the s..."

Being and Nothingness is perhaps best read by breaking it down into segments; read the sections on Existential Psychology and "The Gaze"---they are two of the most interesting parts and will let you know if you wish to go on.

Thanks Michael.. Will do.

I would suggest that you read Existentialism for and Against by Paul Roubiczek, Cambridge University Press, 1964, 197 pages. I would not suggest reading an "existentialist" novel to get an idea of the basics of the existentialist "movement." Some readers claim that a novel or a story has a philosophical bent to it but in reality it depends more upon the reader's interpretation than the writer's intent. If it was a philosophical tract then it wouldn't be that interesting to read.

I second Irrational Man. It's a great place to start.

Thanks Edward, John & Jimmy. I am just through with my 'first read' on existentialism - The Outsider. True, fiction is not exactly an unadulterated presentation of a certain philosophy & it is precisely for this reason i guess that it is recommended (as a first read), so as not to discourage a first timer with a heavy dose..
I certainly intend to take up The Irrational Man.

Thank you once again..

A favorite of mine is Camus' The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt.

It may not fit exactly what you're seeking but its a lot of fun in that Camus has a chance to speak at length --very garrulously--about some of his favorite topics. Its about history, movements in popular thought, literature, and ethics... rather than being esoteric, cold, abstruse, and metaphysical ('metaphysics' often daunts beginning readers, it seems to me).

This book is very readable, lucid..really a wonderfully crisp and crystalline treat. Camus speaks directly to the reader in plain language. Unlike other works of existentialism (such as 'The Stranger') you will emerge from this one confident that you understand the aims of the book.

An excellent place to start reading is The Wall by Jean-Paul Sartre. I wrote a review. Here it is:

This existentialist story has the feel of a film shot in stark black and white; the prose is as hard boiled as it gets, told in first-person. The opening scene takes place in a large bare room with white walls where the narrator, Pablo Ibbieta, a man we can visualize with a thin, chiseled face, slick back hair and looking a bit like Albert Camus or Humphrey Bogart - a visualization in keeping with the tone of black and white film - is interrogated, and, along with two other men, sentenced to be shot dead. The condemned are taken to a cellar with bench and mats, a room shivering cold and without a trace of warmth or humanity. The story unfolds here in the cellar room that's hard and dank and ugly. Absurdity and despair, anyone?

Sartre has us live through the evening and night with Pablo and the two other convicted men: Tom, who has a thick neck and is fat around the middle (Pablo imagines bullets or bayonets cutting into his flesh), and Juan, who is young and has done nothing, other than being the brother of someone wanted by the authorities. We watch as Pablo and Tom and Juan turn old and gray; we smell urine when Tom unconsciously wets his pants; we hear Tom saying how he heard men were executed by being run over by trucks to save ammunition. A doctor comes in and offers cigarettes and asks if anyone wants a priest. No one answers. Pablo falls asleep and wakes, having no thought of death or fear - what he is confronting is nameless; his reaction is physical - his cheeks burn and his head aches. Meanwhile, the doctor, referred to as the Belgian by Pablo, takes Juan's pulse and writes in his notebook. All is clinical; all is calculating. The cold penetrates - the doctor looks blue. Pablo sees that he himself is drenched in sweat. Sartre has written philosophical works such as Being and Nothingness where he deals with the meaninglessness of life and the reality of death in conceptual terms. In this story, his ideas are given flesh and blood.

The core of this story is everyone dealing with their own death. Tom talks so he can recognize himself --- talk as a way of anchoring his sense of self in the world. He says something is going to happen he doesn't understand: death is a blank for Tom. And also for Pablo, who observes the doctor entered the cellar to watch bodies, bodies dying in agony while still alive. Pablo remembers living as if immortal and reflects he spent his life counterfeiting eternity but he understood nothing although he missed nothing. Meanwhile, Tom touches the wooden bench as if touching death. Now that Pablo is looking at things through the lens of death, objects appear less dense -- several hours or several years are all the same when you have lost the illusion of being eternal. Pablo feels a horrible calm, a distance from his body; being with his body feels as if he is tied to an enormous vermin. Feeling your body as an enormous vermin - what disgust and alienation. Just in case you are wondering if this is existentialism - this is existentialism.

The Doctor lets everyone know it is 3:30. At the mention of the time, Juan loses it and become hysterical but Pablo simply wants to die cleanly. After some time, the guards come and take away Tom and Juan. Pablo hears shots fired out in the yard and wants to scream, but rather gritts his teeth and pushes his hands in his pockets to stay clean. What does it mean to die cleanly? We are not given anything more specific. Pablo is taken to the first floor where he is given a chance to live by revealing the whereabouts of one Ramon Gris. What happens from this point offers a twist, a twist, that is, for a tale soaking in absurdity, dread, alienation and death. Please order a copy of this book and read The Wall. You will be chilled; you will have an existentialist experience, you just might laugh so hard at the end you will start to cry.

The Wall is definitely on my list. I would also suggest Nausea with it. This novel lacks a certain momentum as fiction..it's more episodic than anything else. Nevertheless, it has many great vignettes that reveal how "existentialism" works as embodied in real life (albeit the real life of a disaffected intellectual).