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/lit/ - Literature

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5128990 No.5128990 [Reply] [Original]

Are there any myths with undertones of existentialism?

Most mythology I've read (only some Nordic, Greek, and Biblical stuff, so I'm by no means well-versed) seems to attribute human virtue/sin/free will/whatever as coming from the divine and not from within. I know Camus took influence from Sisyphus, but I feel he took a lot of creative license in his interpretation of it.

>> No.5129095
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5129095

>>5128990
The Epic of Gilgamesh is pretty existentialist If you ask me. Also, where is your pic from ?

>> No.5129098

What is the "Berserk" of literature?

>> No.5129100

>>5129095
Not OP, but it's from the manga Berserk.

>> No.5129133
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5129133

>>5129098

>> No.5129434

>>5129095
Been meaning to read it, I'll probably be checking it out sooner now. Thanks.

And what >>5129100 said, very good comic

>> No.5129446

>>5128990
Medea's full cycle. Odysseus' full cycle.

>> No.5129476

>>5128990
>fan translations
I'm laughing too hard.

>> No.5129574

>>5128990
This doesn't really answer the question, but I think old mythology is attractive precisely for not being existentialist and instead attributing the human condition to the whimsy of the gods or the machinations of fate.

Of course it was understood even then that none of it was literally true, but rather metaphors for the power of human emotions and the unknowablity of the future. Existentialism and other humanist/individualist philosophies tend to over-idealize people as purely rational beings with perfect control.