Existentialism and Post-war Literature: Sartre, Camus and Becket

Nothing happens, but at the end of the play we realize that the condition of the two tramps that Becket evokes so convincingly is our condition too. Moving out of it may be difficult, perhaps impossible, but the need to try is paramount.

This message, of the important of living, through individual responses to the conditions the world imposes on us, is even more important today, when the straitjackets holding us in are based, not only on the formulaic rationality that the existentialists of the last century struggled against, but also on soundbites and compartmentalization. Consumption as well as politics are governed by emotions engendered by superficialities masquerading as rational assessment.

Existentialism may not of itself give us a solution, but understanding its vision of what life is, and what it should be, will help us. Fulfilment in the end depends on our individual efforts, but these are promoted by understanding, which I hope this book, and the writers it describes to intelligently and interestingly, will develop.

Rajiva Wijesinha, MP
(Senior) Professor of Languages, Sabaragamuwa University