I had only ever read “The Myth of Sisyphus” from Camus, so this was a nice introduction to the rest of his work. I was surprised by many aspects of his philosophical background, particularly the religious roots of many of his thoughts. Also, learning more about his personal life and his questionable moral decisions made me reconsider the validity of his moral stances...
It really made me re-evaluate Camus’ Sisphyian philosophy. A lot of aspects of it were always unclear to me, but I always assumed that this was due to some lack of understanding on my part; it’s reassuring to see that Kamber also agrees that Camus’ argument “falter[s] in point of clarity, fact, or lack.” Although the idea of affirming life in the face of never-ending despair is a romantic one, Kamber makes a good point of saying that Sisyhus’ situation is nothing like our own, especially in regards to our future. Sisyphus has no future (or at least not one that is any different from his present), but our lives are constantly changing and are linked to the dynamic fluid. One can say that ‘despair’ or ‘hopelessness’ is our boulder since those ideas are present in nearly every aspect of our lives (if one thinks hard enough about it), but it’s disingenuous to say that because ‘despair’ can come in so many different and unrecognizable forms, some of which are mutually exclusive and some of which are paradoxically comforting! Also, as Kamber points out, we at least have things to look forward to in the future (even if Camus would dismiss them as mere ‘distractions’) and we at least have the comfort of knowing that we are finite.
Suppose Sisyhus was told that his suffering would only last a finite amount of time and that he could enjoy brief moments of relief from time to time (perhaps he’ll see a old family member, or perhaps an old friend will come along to help him push the boulder)...would he leap at the first chance to enjoy this relief, or would he stubbornly continue to push the boulder alone?...And wouldn’t he suffer more knowing that this suffering is finite but that he had so many opportunities to feel relief?