The Artist as Cultural Guide: Camus' Post-Christian Asceticism
The French literary intellectual Albert Camus envisioned the artist as a cultural guide to a post-Christian culture. As a Parisian intellectual, he attempted to articulate secular values based upon the personality ideal of a literary ascetic to counter what Weber called an intellectualist civilizati...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
[publisher not identified]
1986
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| In: |
Sociological analysis
Year: 1986, Volume: 47, Issue: 2, Pages: 93-110 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The French literary intellectual Albert Camus envisioned the artist as a cultural guide to a post-Christian culture. As a Parisian intellectual, he attempted to articulate secular values based upon the personality ideal of a literary ascetic to counter what Weber called an intellectualist civilization. However, his efforts to overcome nihilism overlooked the contradiction between an ascetic ideal and his vision of an absurd universe in which “everything is permitted.” Affirmations of asceticism and ennobling freedom from sacred limitations may not prevent the nihilism that he feared and fought. Esthetic visions of the self have undermined his ascetic ideal and vulgarizations of his absurd freedom may lead to base conduct. Yet Camus remains one of the most instructive guides to understanding contemporary Western culture in ways that he did not always intend. |
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| ISSN: | 2325-7873 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociological analysis
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/3711455 |