Abstract
This paper discusses Nagel's view of absurdity and his explanation of it. The paper also discusses three responses to absurdity. The paper asserts that while we coexist with absurdity as Nagel maintains, it is not radical absurdity in the sense of sub specie aeternitatis.

From the Paper
"This paper will discuss Nagel's view of absurdity and his explanation of it. I will also discuss the three responses to absurdity. While we coexist with absurdity as Nagel maintains, it is not radical absurdity in the sense of sub specie aeternitatis. Nagel (31) provides a definition of absurdity when he states then "a situation is absurd when it includes a conspicuous discrepancy between pretension, or aspiration and reality". The whole of life is absurd when we observe that there is some pretension or aspiration which is interrelated with the continuum of human life. It is not enough that..."

Tags:meaning, absurd, strategies

Abstract
This paper analyzes Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem, "Constantly Risking Absurdity", noting that the simile used in the poem, 'the poet is like an acrobat', emphasizes that the whole poem is a metaphor comparing a poet to an acrobat. The paper then goes on to discuss various elements of the poem including the use of free verse, and irregular words and sounds across the verses. The paper also notes that the poem uses short lines and that it is a challenge to read. The paper explains that this challenge relates to the theme of the poem and is similar to the process of writing a poem.

From the Paper
"The poet-figure is characterised throughout the poem. As the acrobat performs his tricks we discover the similarities between the poet and him. The line 'climbs on rhyme' expresses how a poet uses rhyme to link his lines as he climbs down the poem, while an acrobat climbs a ladder to perform his tricks. The poet-figure is 'balancing on eyebeams'. The poet and the acrobat rely on their audience's recognition. The audience's gaze keeps the acrobat in the air and the poet's admires keeps his spirits high. The line 'paces his way' emphasises how cautious poets and acrobats need to be in their professions. An acrobat has to pace himself as he crosses the tightrope and a poet can definitely not rush through the poetry process."

Tags:tightrope

Abstract
The paper describes how Toni Morrison in "The Black Notebooks" and Toi Derricotte in "Recitatif" utilize stereotypes to create confusion, forcing readers to question the validity of the stereotypes and ultimately the accuracy of the racial identifications. The paper brings out how both authors convey the flaws in the act of racial identification.

From the Paper
"Toni Morrison and Toi Derricotte use stereotypes to show the absurdity of a universal perception of race. In "Recitatif" and The Black Notebooks, both the reader and the stories' other characters must perceive the protagonists' race before reaction or judgment is rendered. In both cases, the outcome of this method is flawed. The authors' techniques use stereotypes to create confusion, forcing readers to question the validity of the stereotypes and ultimately the accuracy of the racial identifications. The outcome is that the protagonists cannot, and should not, be judged by the information given."

Tags:judgment, categorizations, blacks

Abstract
Description of the concept of aburdity and its history as a literary idea. Broad analysis of how character of Meursault embraces this view of an absurd life. Specific analysis of key incidents which highlight this in the text.

From the Paper
"Absurdism is a literary idea that began to grow in the 1920s and prospered as people sought to explain the wars and hardships that plagued the world at that time. Its basic principle is that life doesn't matter. People are powerless to really change their lives or the lives of others, and so humanity is basically useless. No matter how brilliantly or terribly we live our lives, whether we are a doctor or a murderer, we will eventually die and be left with nothing. The world is therefore meaningless, but humanity is constantly trying to explain its own existence. People are searching for something they can never possibly find. It is an absurd search."

Tags:meursault

Abstract
Albert Camus, a political activist and intellectual often expressed his philosophical attitudes through fiction and short essays. Camus is primarily known for philosophical position; a form of existentialism, that he portrays in his essays "The Absurd" and "The Myth of Sisyphus". The absurd is a set of beliefs to be adopted towards life in a universe that is devoid of a true or higher meaning when the only outcome will be death. This paper shows how, in the two previously mentioned essays, Camus explores the way in which absurdity appears in life and the consequences of making this discovery. Camus identifies the Absurd not as a source for despair but describes a way to defy meaninglessness and live life through experience.

From the Paper
"The theater of the Absurd is a display of modern life in a universe that is devoid of a true or higher meaning. This existential philosophy illustrated through plays relates a brutal world freed from any notion of divinity. In a world where the only outcome is certain death, there is no moral code, no god and no ultimate purpose. A person is left with a feeling of unease and dislocation, such is the beginning of Absurdity. Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot are two plays, which explore concepts such as these. Modernist theater features the notion of the absurd; a concept reflective of global attitude at the time in the wake of World War Two and the decline of religious faith."

Tags:beckett, camus, modernist, faith

Abstract
A paper on "Diary of a Mad Old Man" by J. Tanizaki, which discusses absurdity as it accompanies the author's notes on Japanese cultural change in the 1960s and according to what seems to be strongly Freudian themes.

Abstract
Albert Camus, in his essay "The Myth of Sisyphus", defines the absurd as the collision between man and the world, resulting in the discrepancy between what one wants and what one gets. The resulting anxiety leads to the individual's confrontation with nothingness and with the impossibility of finding justification for the choices he or she must make. The paper provides an in-depth look at how Virginia Woolf's novel, "Mrs. Dalloway" depicts the absurd through narrative terms strikingly similar to those explored by Camus in "The Myth of Sisyphus".

From the Paper
"For Clarissa, the manifestation of the absurd is a subtle but profound flickering of light within the depths of the inner life, but for Septimus the hollow caverns of his war-torched soul, reflect an inferno of absurd terror and beauty. Septimus embodies the ideal of the absurd man, the protruding edge slicing through the fine film of reality. His experiences of crystallized beauty, sublime surrealism, and visionary spells isolate him in a silenced world. Part of the world but distinctly separate from it, Septimus combats convention and proportion, symbols of excessive rationality prescribed to the world as cures for the malady of the absurd."

Tags:literature, philosophy, Clarissa, Septimus, Rezia

Abstract
This paper will compare and contrast the two essays: "A Few Words About Breasts: Shaping Up Absurd" by Nora Eptron and "The Importance of Dissimulation" by Shirley Abbott.

Abstract
An existentential nihilist paper on Albert Camus's essay on "An Absurd Reasoning." The paper focuses on Camus' major theme of absurdity with its relation to life and suicide. The paper uses quotes from Camus and examines the concepts of society and its ideal ethics.

From the Paper
"Existential nihilist philosopher and 1957 Nobel Prize winner for literature, Albert Camus wrote an essay entitled "An Absurd Reasoning," where he suggests suicide is a solution to the absurd. As horrifying as it may sound and as absurd as it may seem, surprisingly, there is logic to his rather depressing theory. Due to society's concept and interpretation of suicide, Camus theory may and most likely be ignorantly disregarded. However, the purpose of this essay and perhaps also the impact may in doubt be able to reach upon and grasp further than the concepts of society and their ideal ethics. In order to grasp Camus theory, one must not understand but rather identify absurdity with its own parallel connection to the self. Without a reason to live and the absurdity in the pursuit of meaning, a simple conclusion may be drawn rather than sought, where suicide is the solution to the absurd."

Tags:absurdity, philosophy, reason, The, American, Dream

Abstract
This paper discusses the role that international jurisprudence plays in conflicts between nations, and how the role of the international courts is being abused by nations, who want to use the reaps of war, rather than negotiations, to settle their disputes.

From the paper:

"The ICJ reveals itself as impotent even when adjudicating against weaker nations, as illustrated by its farcical order that Iran free its American hostages taken after the Embassy was stormed (Meyer 127). Whether with great powers or less powers, international jurisprudence is helpless to resolve conflicts in which one party merely desires to exploit its power.
Where both parties are mutually interested in an arbitrated solution to a dispute, however, international jurisprudence is useful."

Tags:arbitration, court, icj, jurisprudence, nations, un, united, law, war, power, nicaragua, new, zealand, melos