Camus Questions -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 07:30:46 03/27/08 Thu
Author: CS Holden
Subject: Camus Questions

I woke up this morning and reread the last chapter of �The Myth of Sisyphus� by Albert Camus (don�t ask me why I started my morning this way). I�ve already posted once about the existentialist nature of mimetic theory, but I was struck again as I read Camus� take on the idea of myth.

�If this myth is tragic,� Camus writes, �that is because its hero is conscious. Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of succeeding upheld him? The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious. Sisyphus, proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of his wretched condition: it is what he thinks of during his descent. The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory. There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.�

Does this square with mimetic theory? Certainly there are traces of it, but there are places where Camus diverges from it. I�m troubled by the part where Camus writes, �But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious. Sisyphus, proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of his wretched condition.� I�m troubled because I�m not entirely sure that�s true. Isn�t the myth tragic even when Sisyphus is pushing the rock up the hill, because he�s conscious of his condition? All it takes is one walk back down the hill to realize you have to push it back up again, that the cycle will repeat.

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Replies:

Re: Camus Questions -- Caitlin, 08:58:08 03/29/08 Sat
Re: Camus Questions -- Kiernan, 11:02:52 03/29/08 Sat