Existentialism and Absurdism Existentialism is a term applied to a group of attitudes current to philosophical, religious, and artistic thought during and after WW II. In modern expression it had its beginning in the writing of the nineteenth century Danish Theologian Soren Kierkegaard. The German Philosopher Martin Heidegger is important in its formulation, and the French novelist-philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre has done most to give it its present form and popularity. Existentialism has found art and …showed first 75 words of 473 total…

…showed last 75 words of 473 total…they can cope in a world that otherwise would make no sense to them. But, there is also a code of honor implied in such a principle: one must not impose his own "construction" of meaning and existence on anyone else. Existentialism is very valuable as well in its explanation of social conflicts, especially in clashes between cultures. You should consider it as a tool to mine meaning in literature, especially that of this century.