“ But perhaps the great work of art has less importance in itself than in the ordeal it demands of a man and the opportunity it provides him of overcoming his phantoms and approaching a little closer to his naked reality. ”
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942). copy citation
| Author | Albert Camus |
|---|---|
| Source | The Myth of Sisyphus |
| Topic | importance reality |
| Date | 1942 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Justin O'Brien |
| Weblink | http://www2.hawaii.edu/~freeman/courses/phil360/16.%20Myth%20of%20Sisyph... |
Context
“the dogged revolt against his condition, perseverance in an effort considered sterile. It calls for a daily effort, self-mastery, a precise estimate of the limits of truth, measure, and strength. It constitutes an ascesis. All that “for nothing,” in order to repeat and mark time. But perhaps the great work of art has less importance in itself than in the ordeal it demands of a man and the opportunity it provides him of overcoming his phantoms and approaching a little closer to his naked reality.
* * * Let there be no mistake in aesthetics. It is not patient inquiry, the unceasing, sterile illustration of a thesis that I am calling for here. Quite the contrary, if I have made myself clearly understood.”
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