Camus, the Myth of Sisyphus, and The Plague, part 1

Porter, Nathan and I talk first about Camus's parable "The Myth of Sisyphus." We describe why life can rightly be called "absurd," and ask how it's possible to be happy even in pointless or futile struggle. We then touch briefly on the first half of Camus's The Plague, asking how this novel might display Sisyphean attitudes, why it opens with a suicide attempt, how the emotional struggles of these characters map our to our own during the COVID-19 pandemic, whether it makes sense to blame an omnipotent deity for such catastrophes, why it might be a bad idea to wear pajamas during Zoom calls, and much more.