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HomeShop at BookSurgeJuvenile Non-FictionBiography & AutobiographyGeneralThe Living Dead and the End of Hope |
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a rare and brave essay in an area fraught with contradiction if not paradox Jan 01, 2011
By Gus Bernardi
I came across Mr Levine's essay when searching on a critique of Camus' essay on the "Myth of Sisyphus". Camus' approach to being etc I have always found unsatisfactory, especially in light of other writers, in particular Luigi Pirandello (Italian authors are sadly overlooked in relation to their European counterparts). Mr Levine's starting point is Freud's idea of "repetition compulsion" - something akin to Sisyphus' inability to break repetition: as Mr Levine amusing says Sisyphus simply could have stopped believing in his "gods"; "his penance" etc and walk away from his entrapped horror. However, this simple realisation and act requires a leap of imagination and the will to carry it out. Imagination and Will working together provide the necessary psychic energy to exit the field of the living dead but not unhappiness which should not be taken as something "abnormal" or "a fallen from grace condition" (as with Sisyphus' fall and punishment)but as an essential psychic state to one's psychic well-being. However, such an acknowledgement requires courage of mind - something that many of us lack for paradoxically it's easier to become or be Sisyphus-like in one's life - hoping that the penance done will someone liberate us from or provide the elusive purpose for life.
Mr Levine's essay makes for a challenging, engaging and difficult read (difficult in that it demands concentration and effort). However, the essay could have been richer if he drew on the writings of Pirandello where no matter how imaginative and powerful in will we may strive to be we are still trapped by the "characterisation" of others. This idea first raised by Nietzsche is at times overlooked by the existential movement which Camus self-identified with. Pirendello saw 'being' as something which in itself can never be authentic and its pursuit as a tragic failure or better a tragic farce. 'Being' is bound with the 'characterisation' which others give (it's illusory to think that one can empty oneself of 'being' Buddha-like for one refills it with something else which is caught and coloured by the interaction with reality). For Pirendello it's the comic aspect of the absurd which allows one to existentially ground oneself. I therefore encourage other readers to explore Pirandello and also the Spanish director/film maker Luis Bunuel who explores the bourgeios absurd existential angst in movies such as "Exterminating Angel" and the more playful "Simon of the Desert"; the "Indiscreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie"; "the Phantom of Liberty" etc.
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