Existentialism

Paper Summary:

This paper summarizes and analyzes three famous stories by Jean-Paul Sarte, Franz Kafka and Albert Camus in an effort to explain existentialism. The paper examines, "The Adulterous Woman" by Albert Camus, "Jackals and Arabs" by Franz Kafka and "The Wall" by Jean-Paul Sarte and makes the point that existentialism is about nothingness and it primarily reflected the mood of the very depressive era in which it gained popularity. The paper concludes that, despite some valid and creative, capable writers having been swept up in the existentialist literary phenomenon, existentialism is a style, and an artificial one at that.

From the Paper:

"Existentialism is "the title of a set of philosophies that emphasizes the existence of the human being, the lack of meaning and purpose in life, and the solitude of human existence." It is a rather pessimistic outlook on life, and its principal proponents were those authors who lived either in the northern climes of Europe (Kierkegaard, Kafka) or in a mult-cultured land where its traditions clashed with newcomers (The France and North Africa of Camus and Sartre).This philosophy reached its zenith in the years between the two World Wars, when most of Europe was in a despairing mood. Actually, the movement was more or less established with the works of Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard."

More papers on Existentialism:

• Analytical Essay # 136632 : "Sartre's Existentialism"
• Analytical Essay # 130773 : "Existentialism and Oscar Wilde"
• Comparison Essay # 71427 : "Existentialism"
• Comparison Essay # 32071 : "Existentialism: A Comparison Between Camus And Sartre"

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