Quest for Meaning

1
Quest for Meaning
2
Effects of WWII

• Shock and disillusion
• Alienation anxiety
• Loss of faith
• Pessimism dystopian novels

3
Minute Essay

• How is A Brave New World an example of the new
  genre of dystopian novels?

4
Existentialism and Freedom
5
Existentialism

• We are what we choose to be, we create both
  ourselves and our freedom by our every choice.
• Basic philosophy

6
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

• first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on
  the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself
  
• Background

7
Sartres Philosophy

• Being and Nothingness (1943)
• Existence precedes essence
• Human beings have no fixed nature
• Born as body/matter
• Balance

8
Christian Existentialism
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Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

• If we choose faith we must suspend our reason in
  order to believe in something higher than reason.
  In fact we must believe by virtue of the
  absurd.
• Continuing moral responsibility for our lives

10
Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) Gabriel Marcel
(1889-1973)

• God challenges human begins to act as free and
  responsible creatures.

11
Literature at the Mid-Century
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New kind of hero

• Anti-hero
• Inspired by Sartre
• Alienated
• Making choices in a world with no moral absolutes

13
Albert Camus (1913-1960)

• The Stranger (1942)
• Meursault (main character)
• Follows death of mother to his death for killing
  someone

14
Arthur Miller

• Death of a Salesman (1949)
• Anti-hero with American feeling

15
Theater of the Absurd

• Reject dramatic structure character development
• General style
• Lots of gallows humor
• Unrealistic, grotesque situations

16
Waiting for Godot (1948)

• Samuel Beckett
• Who is Godot?

17
Poetry at Mid-Century
18
T.S. Eliot

• 1888-1965
• Theme of alienation
• Background
• General Style

19
Dylan Thomas

• 1914-1953
• Background
• Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night (1951)

20
Existentialism Game
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"Man does not discover values he creates them."
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I think therefore I am.
23
Equally important are mystery, ambiguity,
illogical contradiction, and transcendent
experience."
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"All essential knowledge relates to existence, or
only such knowledge as has an essential
relationship to existence is essential
knowledge."
25
"Wise men talk because they have something to
say fools, because they have to say something."
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The meaning of things lies not in the things
themselves, but in our attitude towards them.
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Our greatest glory consists not in never
falling, but in rising every time we fall.
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"Recognize your own dignity as a human being"
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Think for yourself and let others enjoy the
privilege of doing so too.
30
"Do not wait for the last judgment. It comes
every day."
31
Ask and it will be given to you seek and you
will find knock and it will be opened to you.
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"You need to make a leap of faith.
33
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is
ignorance."
34
"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no
one thinks of changing himself."
35
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again.
Fail again. Fail better.