I've hit a slog stretch lately and, while having put away The Leopard by Lampedusa, Working by Studs Terkel, and The Myth of Sisyphus by Camus, I haven't felt inspired or gripped by any of them. I did enjoy Working more than the other two because of 1) the novelty of reading interviews with people who worked now-obsolete jobs and 2) reinforcing the truth that, generally, your job is no "better" than the next person's.
The juxtaposition of reading Sisyphus right after Working:
"The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks ... But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious." (p.90)
"I create for myself barriers between which I confine my life." (p.43)
See also: nihilism and my previous entry on Sartre's Nausea
While reading through Working, probably half of the interviewees said something to effect of their job being boring/monotonous/pointless; sortof a nihilism at the workplace. When faced with the absurdity of their jobs, some confronted it through passion (the lady who actually loved waitressing, the guy who actually loved valet parking cars) and others through family (they kept working to give their children a better life, oh hay there "Death of a Salesman" undertones). I suppose this dovetails with the "revolt" that Camus advocates for, in opposition to suicide as the ultimate acceptance of nothingness. To revolt is to live with the knowledge of the absurdity of life.
Other miscellaneous notes:
- reference to The Plague in Camus' short story "The Minotaur" about Oran (wait, that's a real place?)
- loved the sumptuously descriptive "Summer in Algiers"
- Justin O'Brien, I am calling you out for how shitty your French-to-English translation was. And this wasn't even a Barnes & Noble translation edition.
Bottom line: Sub-par winter reading
