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Existential Imagination
EXISTENTIALISM is unquestionably the most challenging philosophic movement of the 20th Century. The hurricane of argument it has engendered has shaken the very framework of man's moral and spiritual traditions. This unique anthology charts the development of existential thought through the classic literature of past and present. It provides new insights into the most dramatic intellectual revolution of our century. Apart from the ideas, the stories and selections are entertaining and rewarding works of art in themselves. THE EXISTENTIAL IMAGINATION is not only philosophy but storytelling at its best.
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First published December 1, 1965
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About the author
Frederick R. Karl
64 books6 followersAlong with his biographies, Frederick Karl wrote several volumes of literary criticism, among them American Fictions: 1940-1980. He also was general editor and volume co-editor of the Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, five volumes of which have appeared. He taught at City College of New York, Columbia, and NYU. Karl died in 2004.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 24, 2013
This book caused me a lot of grief, and I would like to explain why so that people who come upon it know a little bit more about it before they dedicate themselves to reading it. I am an existentialist, and this book more often than not had little to do with existentialism. I found it very frustrating that this collection seemed to have so little a grasp on what the meaning of what it was trying to convey was. So here we go--
The introduction of the book is a good thirty pages and has some nice thoughts and things to say about what you are about to explore in its further pages; however I found a lot of what they saw to be reaching beyond what some of the stories actually articulated, and this was a problem. There were some deep insights put upon stories that had next to nothing philosophical in them, let alone existential. This grated on me as I read the works collected and I felt almost cheated at times by my expectations the introduction had created.
The book contains 18 stories; of these 18 only 11 contain any sort of philosophy, and of these 11 only 7 really have any existential push to them. This is a problem to me. 7 out of 18 is a really bad score. However, some of these stories are magnificent, and because of them I have given this book 2 stars instead of 1.
The book opens with a segment from King Lear, and this was a huge mistake. The piece they chose not only has nothing to do with philosophy, let alone existentialism, but nothing actually occurs in this piece. I was blown away--how does one mess up picking an existential section from Shakespeare, the man that gave us Prospero and Hamlet and Richard III? But alas; here it is. I can think of no excuses for this. In the introduction they discuss that in the section "the king is the fool and the fool is the king" and I might have bought this, but for the fact that it simply isn't in the content of the story.
Next we have our first existential piece by the Marquis de Sade, a lovely piece called "Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man." This is a wonderful section about looking back on a life and finding it fulfilled by existence itself, and the pleasures that life has to offer. Beautiful.
Next comes Dostoyevsky's "The Grand Inquisitor" which is a section taken from "The Brothers Karamazov" and is easily the best piece in this collection, in my opinion. It is an existential look at the catholic church in a fantasia about Christ's second coming, and about how he no longer fits into the religion he made, and about the confines of man's freedom, and man's choosing bondage in order to have simplicity instead of responsibility. Just wonderful. However, I would recommend just picking up the book "The Brothers Karamazov" rather than this collection, and you'll find I feel that way about many of the pieces to come.
Next is l'Ilse-Adam's "The Desire to be a Man" which is a piece about an actor realizing that while he has lived many lives he has not lived a real life, and his decisions to act upon this notion. It is an interesting little piece, but did not blow me away by any means. At least it keeps with the existential theme.
Miguel de Unamuno's "Saint Emmanuel The Good, Martyr" was perhaps one of the most frustrating pieces in the book, and it had an absolutely horrible message, in my opinion. It is about a priest in a small Spanish town who does not believe in the religion he preaches himself, so he tries as hard as he can to make everyone else believe to make up for him. I had a really hard time finding this an ethical standpoint because I am an atheist, and found this notion hypocritical and mortifying that one would doom another to a life that they did not see fit for themselves. What was the crowning disaster was on the second to last page suddenly the narrator flies into a fit of existential questions "Did this really happen?" that have absolutely nothing to do with the story, and just ended it on a cheap note. However: in looking into this author I found his novel "Mist" about a character who begins to fight back against the author who writes him, and I am very curious to read this. I hope that it will not be as convoluted as his story here.
Luigi Pirandello's "Cinci" was pointless. It is about a young boy who is bored, and then, by chance, he gets in a fight with another boy and accidentally kills him, then he goes home. Now; this could have been an existential story if it was begging the question "is boredom worse than murder?" but Cinci does not have any reaction to his actions, and so we are left to ponder why we just read what we did, as it had no point, philosophical or otherwise...
Marcel Proust's "Filial Sentiments of a Parracide" is one of the highlights of this collection; a strange and disturbing piece taken from his own experience about his communications with a man who seems to be quite sane, but soon after their correspondence kills his own mother, and leaves Proust to question what it is that has made this man into the man he is, and where it is exactly that madness lies. I really enjoyed this section, and all of the questions and ponderings that it held. One of my favorite sections, absolutely.
"Moosbrugger" by Robert Musil comes next, and is one of those stories that the editors of this collection read more into in the introduction than is actually there in the story. It is about a murderer who happens to kill a woman and who through his trial insists he is sane. In the end he suddenly cries "I'm a madman!" and our faith is supposed to be shaken, as though it were not painfully obvious he was insane from the get go. It was a waste of time...ugh, so painful.
Kafta's "The Bucket Rider" is a three page piece of nothing. We are supposed to question the actuality of the bucket rider, I think, but there is nothing to question about him. I wonder how the editors found such a useless piece from a man who gave us "The Metamorphisis" and "The Trial?" Clearly it is not Kafka's fault that he is represented here with this pointless tale.
"Socrates Wounded" by Brecht is the worst story in this book. It's glowing message is "tell the truth!" and it's about as insipid as can be. The worst thing is that this story is a comedy...Yikes. And again, nothing existential about it.
Malraux's "The Royal Way" was a lovely piece, and one of the reasons this book got the rating it did. It is an excerpt from a longer novel of the same name, and I am definitely going to read it. The story contains a conversation by two men who are out in the jungle, questioning what it is that causes their existence. Just wonderful.
And unfortunately Malraux's piece is followed by perhaps one of the biggest clustercusses of this book: Jean-Paul Sartre's "The Room." How do you mess up Sartre in a book about existentialism? Well, apparently like this: you find a story that has nothing to do with existentialism by one of the leading authors on the subject--so you have to look really hard--and then you use that one. If you want to read some good Sartre try his book on existentialism or start with his first novel "Nausea."
Samuel Beckett is one of my favorite writers, but his piece here is not existential either. "The Expelled" deals with a man on the fringes of society who doesn't do much and sorta wanders away in the end. I have no explanation for why this piece was chosen...
"Back to the Sea" by Alberto Moravia again is NOT an existential story. It is about a man who was once in a position of power now falling in love with his wife since he has nothing else. His wife spurns him. He dies. That's about it.
Cesare Pavese's "Suicides" is another breath of fresh air in this confused collection. It is about a man's affair with a married woman and his questions about who he is and how he connects with others and deals with the theme of death because of love. It is just beautiful and has some incredible sentences in it. Such a good writer!
Zielinsky's "Uncle From Heaven" is another comedic piece, and an absurdist one. It is about a man who goes to visit his aunt on her birthday and then ends up pretending to be a doctor to cure people who have been sick with the ability to see into the future. It is a very curious piece, and I did like it, rather, but again, found nothing existential in it. If we had been questioned about if he really was a doctor, and what might have happened to the man who came to visit his aunt, if there was some question of the qualities of being in this it could have been very good. But sadly, these questions are just not there.
The last story "The Bound Man" by Ilse Aichinger (the only female contributor to this collection) is a strange piece that I am torn about. It is about a man who wakes to find himself bound, and in his binding he finds he has more freedom than he did before. I only wish that it had more about this subject, showed us how truly he was free, instead of ending its philosophy with that thought. I wanted more from it, and found the ending disappointing.
So should you pick up this book? Not really, I guess, unless you still are curious about it. I would recommend reading the individual works by the authors, and that is one of the reasons I listed them by name here. All in all, I do not think this is a good example of existentialism and I think it is a poor place to begin looking into it if you are new to it. A fun place to start might be reading "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." I think that's a nice lighthearted exploration of the themes of existentialism. When you're done with that, try some Beckett or some Sarte. Then feel your way from there. But this book has too many wrong turns, and I'm afraid it will confuse people as to what the definition of the thing they're after is.
I hope this helps.
The introduction of the book is a good thirty pages and has some nice thoughts and things to say about what you are about to explore in its further pages; however I found a lot of what they saw to be reaching beyond what some of the stories actually articulated, and this was a problem. There were some deep insights put upon stories that had next to nothing philosophical in them, let alone existential. This grated on me as I read the works collected and I felt almost cheated at times by my expectations the introduction had created.
The book contains 18 stories; of these 18 only 11 contain any sort of philosophy, and of these 11 only 7 really have any existential push to them. This is a problem to me. 7 out of 18 is a really bad score. However, some of these stories are magnificent, and because of them I have given this book 2 stars instead of 1.
The book opens with a segment from King Lear, and this was a huge mistake. The piece they chose not only has nothing to do with philosophy, let alone existentialism, but nothing actually occurs in this piece. I was blown away--how does one mess up picking an existential section from Shakespeare, the man that gave us Prospero and Hamlet and Richard III? But alas; here it is. I can think of no excuses for this. In the introduction they discuss that in the section "the king is the fool and the fool is the king" and I might have bought this, but for the fact that it simply isn't in the content of the story.
Next we have our first existential piece by the Marquis de Sade, a lovely piece called "Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man." This is a wonderful section about looking back on a life and finding it fulfilled by existence itself, and the pleasures that life has to offer. Beautiful.
Next comes Dostoyevsky's "The Grand Inquisitor" which is a section taken from "The Brothers Karamazov" and is easily the best piece in this collection, in my opinion. It is an existential look at the catholic church in a fantasia about Christ's second coming, and about how he no longer fits into the religion he made, and about the confines of man's freedom, and man's choosing bondage in order to have simplicity instead of responsibility. Just wonderful. However, I would recommend just picking up the book "The Brothers Karamazov" rather than this collection, and you'll find I feel that way about many of the pieces to come.
Next is l'Ilse-Adam's "The Desire to be a Man" which is a piece about an actor realizing that while he has lived many lives he has not lived a real life, and his decisions to act upon this notion. It is an interesting little piece, but did not blow me away by any means. At least it keeps with the existential theme.
Miguel de Unamuno's "Saint Emmanuel The Good, Martyr" was perhaps one of the most frustrating pieces in the book, and it had an absolutely horrible message, in my opinion. It is about a priest in a small Spanish town who does not believe in the religion he preaches himself, so he tries as hard as he can to make everyone else believe to make up for him. I had a really hard time finding this an ethical standpoint because I am an atheist, and found this notion hypocritical and mortifying that one would doom another to a life that they did not see fit for themselves. What was the crowning disaster was on the second to last page suddenly the narrator flies into a fit of existential questions "Did this really happen?" that have absolutely nothing to do with the story, and just ended it on a cheap note. However: in looking into this author I found his novel "Mist" about a character who begins to fight back against the author who writes him, and I am very curious to read this. I hope that it will not be as convoluted as his story here.
Luigi Pirandello's "Cinci" was pointless. It is about a young boy who is bored, and then, by chance, he gets in a fight with another boy and accidentally kills him, then he goes home. Now; this could have been an existential story if it was begging the question "is boredom worse than murder?" but Cinci does not have any reaction to his actions, and so we are left to ponder why we just read what we did, as it had no point, philosophical or otherwise...
Marcel Proust's "Filial Sentiments of a Parracide" is one of the highlights of this collection; a strange and disturbing piece taken from his own experience about his communications with a man who seems to be quite sane, but soon after their correspondence kills his own mother, and leaves Proust to question what it is that has made this man into the man he is, and where it is exactly that madness lies. I really enjoyed this section, and all of the questions and ponderings that it held. One of my favorite sections, absolutely.
"Moosbrugger" by Robert Musil comes next, and is one of those stories that the editors of this collection read more into in the introduction than is actually there in the story. It is about a murderer who happens to kill a woman and who through his trial insists he is sane. In the end he suddenly cries "I'm a madman!" and our faith is supposed to be shaken, as though it were not painfully obvious he was insane from the get go. It was a waste of time...ugh, so painful.
Kafta's "The Bucket Rider" is a three page piece of nothing. We are supposed to question the actuality of the bucket rider, I think, but there is nothing to question about him. I wonder how the editors found such a useless piece from a man who gave us "The Metamorphisis" and "The Trial?" Clearly it is not Kafka's fault that he is represented here with this pointless tale.
"Socrates Wounded" by Brecht is the worst story in this book. It's glowing message is "tell the truth!" and it's about as insipid as can be. The worst thing is that this story is a comedy...Yikes. And again, nothing existential about it.
Malraux's "The Royal Way" was a lovely piece, and one of the reasons this book got the rating it did. It is an excerpt from a longer novel of the same name, and I am definitely going to read it. The story contains a conversation by two men who are out in the jungle, questioning what it is that causes their existence. Just wonderful.
And unfortunately Malraux's piece is followed by perhaps one of the biggest clustercusses of this book: Jean-Paul Sartre's "The Room." How do you mess up Sartre in a book about existentialism? Well, apparently like this: you find a story that has nothing to do with existentialism by one of the leading authors on the subject--so you have to look really hard--and then you use that one. If you want to read some good Sartre try his book on existentialism or start with his first novel "Nausea."
Samuel Beckett is one of my favorite writers, but his piece here is not existential either. "The Expelled" deals with a man on the fringes of society who doesn't do much and sorta wanders away in the end. I have no explanation for why this piece was chosen...
"Back to the Sea" by Alberto Moravia again is NOT an existential story. It is about a man who was once in a position of power now falling in love with his wife since he has nothing else. His wife spurns him. He dies. That's about it.
Cesare Pavese's "Suicides" is another breath of fresh air in this confused collection. It is about a man's affair with a married woman and his questions about who he is and how he connects with others and deals with the theme of death because of love. It is just beautiful and has some incredible sentences in it. Such a good writer!
Zielinsky's "Uncle From Heaven" is another comedic piece, and an absurdist one. It is about a man who goes to visit his aunt on her birthday and then ends up pretending to be a doctor to cure people who have been sick with the ability to see into the future. It is a very curious piece, and I did like it, rather, but again, found nothing existential in it. If we had been questioned about if he really was a doctor, and what might have happened to the man who came to visit his aunt, if there was some question of the qualities of being in this it could have been very good. But sadly, these questions are just not there.
The last story "The Bound Man" by Ilse Aichinger (the only female contributor to this collection) is a strange piece that I am torn about. It is about a man who wakes to find himself bound, and in his binding he finds he has more freedom than he did before. I only wish that it had more about this subject, showed us how truly he was free, instead of ending its philosophy with that thought. I wanted more from it, and found the ending disappointing.
So should you pick up this book? Not really, I guess, unless you still are curious about it. I would recommend reading the individual works by the authors, and that is one of the reasons I listed them by name here. All in all, I do not think this is a good example of existentialism and I think it is a poor place to begin looking into it if you are new to it. A fun place to start might be reading "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." I think that's a nice lighthearted exploration of the themes of existentialism. When you're done with that, try some Beckett or some Sarte. Then feel your way from there. But this book has too many wrong turns, and I'm afraid it will confuse people as to what the definition of the thing they're after is.
I hope this helps.
January 5, 2015
This book really helped me to form my view of life. After reading it I thought that Life made more sense. I started to believe that we just are, and that there's nothing incredible or special about our time as sentient beings. Some people might find this depressing, but when I read this book it made me feel very happy. To me, life isn't complicated; it has no meaning. And some people might then think we shouldn't care how we treat each other if Life is meaningless. I came away with a different interpretation. I think that because we are all sharing our lives with each other for what little time we live, we should treat each other with the utmost respect so all our short lives are as wonderful as possible. I wish everyone else felt this way.
October 9, 2019
Some of the stories were really good. On the whole it was a mixed bag.
December 21, 2016
i enjoyed this book.
my understanding of existentialism is limited, to be fair. but i have read The Stranger by Albert Camus, so i already had an introduction to a more absurd existentialist story. with that as a starting place, i really enjoyed most of what was presented here. i especially enjoyed The Desire to be a Man, Saint Emmanuel The Good, Martyr, Moosebrugger, Back to the Sea, and The Bound Man. the King Lear excerpt, Socrates Wounded, and Final Sentiments of a Parricide, i could have done without.
all in all, i think this book does a good job presenting a range of expressions of existentialism, and is a great place to build a reading list.
my understanding of existentialism is limited, to be fair. but i have read The Stranger by Albert Camus, so i already had an introduction to a more absurd existentialist story. with that as a starting place, i really enjoyed most of what was presented here. i especially enjoyed The Desire to be a Man, Saint Emmanuel The Good, Martyr, Moosebrugger, Back to the Sea, and The Bound Man. the King Lear excerpt, Socrates Wounded, and Final Sentiments of a Parricide, i could have done without.
all in all, i think this book does a good job presenting a range of expressions of existentialism, and is a great place to build a reading list.
December 9, 2011
yummy, includes Beckett's The Expelled, Moravio's Back to the Sea, an extract from The Man Without Qualities (on Moosbruger the murderer).
..just come across this from 1982 notebook:
in Sartre's 'The Room' - the lunatic with his buzzing statues and the people around him. He says to his wife 'We should paint this room black, there isn't enough black in here.'
..just come across this from 1982 notebook:
in Sartre's 'The Room' - the lunatic with his buzzing statues and the people around him. He says to his wife 'We should paint this room black, there isn't enough black in here.'
October 26, 2012
Well... some interesting reads I guess, but the selections seemed pretty arbitrary to me. A collection of fictional takes on existentialist themes seems like a great idea, but despite the billing, I don't think this is one.
February 26, 2008
A stellar collection of Existential writings. The Moravia and Sartre contributions are my top 2...
May 5, 2015
so this is my favorite book and im sure ill never be finished it...just got done the miguel de unamuno story = class with blasillo and everything
August 31, 2014
Some of the stories were really good. On the whole it was a mixed bag.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews