5 characteristics of LITERARY EXISTENTIALISM + outstanding AUTHORS

As a philosophical current, the existentialism arose between the 19th century and the 20th century in Europe. With a reflective basis on the importance of individual freedom and the concrete existence of human beings, it also expressed itself in the literary field. Authors like Jean Paul Sastre or Albert Camus they endowed this movement with an aesthetic and narrative that expressed its main characteristics. In this lesson from a Teacher we will delve into a summary of the characteristics of literary existentialism.

To begin with, it is important that we take a look at the origin of existentialism as a way of seeing and understanding the world. This current has undergone multiple changes and variations since its emergence at the end of the 19th century, until its peak in the middle of the 20th century.

One of its main exponents both on a philosophical and literary level is Jean-Paul Sartre, French thinker awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964. His proposal of existentialism is condensed in the maxim:

"Existence precedes essence". With this he wanted to highlight the value of individual existence; First there is the commitment of the human being and his actions, because in his existence he defines himself. Along the same lines, authors such as Martin Heidegger contributed to the constitution of existentialism with texts such as Being and time.

We could define existentialism as a philosophical and literary movement what does it say central point existence, where man has a degree of freedom that commits him to his actions. Additionally, both Heidegger and Sartre investigated the idea of existential anguish: the inescapable restlessness that we have as human beings to be condemned to death and to a life that stands between the past and the future. This would be the engine of existence and what leads human beings to make determination on the horizon of possibilities that the future gives us.

Now that we know what existentialism means, let's get to know its properly literary expression. Although the work of Sartre, Nausea, or the narrative ofAlbert camus As one of the main works of this movement, there are authors who a few decades before laid the foundations in their literature.

Authors of literary existentialism

First, the novels of the Czech writer Franz Kafka and the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky were already loaded with the fixation on the individual and the pessimism of existentialism. We find characters delivered to a reality that plunges them into anguish, questions and struggles against their own existence. In other words, men and women who are free, but face the determination of bureaucratic systems or life circumstances that cause them to fall on an emotional level.

Second, we find authors of the twentieth century. For example, Albert Camus stood out both as an essayist and novelist with works by him his works referring to literary existentialism as well as Abroad, Plague Y The myth of Sisyphus. Some critics also classify the work of the Spanish Miguel de Unamuno within this stream.

Types of existentialism

Literary existentialism was a polyphonic movement, which is why it is usually classified into three types different:

• Atheist: that questions the existence of God, since human beings can find meaning in life without appealing to a higher being.
• Christian: puts God as a supreme being and religion as a channel of values ​​that allows us to give meaning to the lives of human beings.
• Agnostic: finds a middle ground between the atheist and the Christian, since he shares the possibility of the existence of God, but the foundation of existence and values ​​is found in the human intellect.

To finish this lesson from a Professor, let's see briefly and collect what are the main characteristics of literary existentialism.

As we noted earlier, this it is not a homogeneous stream of thought. Its different references and authors They have exposed a different vision of existentialism from their works that are not reduced to a specific technique of writing or rationing. Despite his polysemic character, these are the most representative meeting points of him:

• Man is free.
• Existence is the source of life and all philosophical reflection.
• The decisions and actions that are taken at a particular level are fundamental in the ethics and values ​​of the human being.
• Sensations such as anguish, in existentialism, are keys to understanding reality and are the foundation for the development of existence.
• He understands existence as a constant projection that is always in motion.