My thought is me: that's why I can't stop. I exist because I think… and I can't stop myself from thinking. At this very moment - it's frightful - if I exist, it is because I am horrified at existing. I am the one who pulls myself from the nothingness to which I aspire.
- Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea, 1932
The existentialist movement dominated philosophy throughout the 20th century. Birthed in a war-torn and proletarian France, existentialism would influence the emerging modern arts. The existentialist movement grew alongside Marxists philosophy, both of which were scrutinized by the established anti-Hegelian order which existed in universities prior to the 1920s. However, the existentialist movement found a great amount of success within literature; contra to the Marxist-realist literature which dominated the Soviet cultural-sphere but failed to reach a large audience outside the Soviet Union. Existentialist authors would continue to be prolific throughout the 20th century, well into the postmodern.
Jean-Paul Sartre was the first to self-identify as an existentialist. However, he attributed the founding of the movement to the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Proto existentialism would develop within both the philosophical and literary worlds in the late 19th century. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, arguably the greatest Russian author of the realist period, would through his literary works develop the grounds for a purely existentialist literature. Dostoyevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov published in 1880, follows four sons after their father’s murder; existentialism is explored through the live of the second youngest son, Ivan. Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov rejects God, refusing to accept the existence of a higher power in a world full of pain and suffering. Sartre would call this realization the starting point of existentialism. Since Ivan does not conclude that he himself is responsible for his own existence, Dostoevsky’s writings fall short of the existentialist literature that would emerge in the 20th century.
Sartre published his first novel, titled Nausea in 1938. The novels protagonist, Antoine Roquentin comes to the realization of existence under a chestnut-tree. Neusea was the first self-described existentialist novel to be published and served as an accessible way to grasp the philosophical existentialism. Nausea addresses what Dostoyevsky did not, by accepting his own existence Roquentin also accepts responsibility for his life and actions. Roquentin decides to write a novel, to create a meaning in existence despite its inherent absurdity, an idea which exists within existentialist thought. The novel received positive attention after its publication, which would expose a wide audience of young, educated people to Sartre’s philosophical works.
Simone de Beauvoir, Sartre’s life-partner published both literary fiction and non-fiction from the 1940’s until her death in 1986. De Beauvoir spearheaded the second wave feminist movement, which focused on the social and economic status that women had rather than the legal and systematic inequalities which early feminism fought against. Simone would develop both existentialist and feminist thoughts through her literature, with books like The Second Sex and All Men Are Mortal exploring the metaphysics of human relations.
Albert Camus worked parallel to Sartre, publishing books from 1936 until his death in 1960. Camus’ philosophical worldview shared similarities with Sartre and de Beauvoir. However, Camus distanced himself from the existentialist movement favoring his own absurdist movement. Absurdists solved the perceived meaninglessness in life by embracing its absurdity. Whilst not being an existentialist, his works answer questions relating to human existence. His most famous works, The Stranger, The Plague, and The Fall, explore the absurdity of life when its devoid of meaning.
by Erik DP22
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