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Friday Revisions Interrupted: The Spark Blogfest-II: Book that Changed My World-view

This is Blogfest week at Amlokiblogs, and as with my posts on Monday and Friday, this is a Blogfest entry too! 

Hosted by Christine Tyler, the Spark Blogfest talks about what inspired us a fiction writers into our creative writing obsession.

She has asked a series of 3 questions, and I answer the first one on the 22nd August.
Christine’s other question (which I think is fantastic and made me think back on my reading) is:

Is there a book or author that changed your world view?


Of all the books I’ve read I think only one has affected me profoundly enough to alter my world view:

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus: The book is essentially an essay and addresses the question: Does the realization of the meaninglessness and absurdity of life necessarily require suicide? I’ve read this book as a teenager, in my twenties, and last year. Each time, it affected me differently— it sent me into clinical depression as a teen, gave me hope as I grew older. 

Camus says: “The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious.”

Man’s futile search for meaning and permanence in a transient world is what this book questions…and it is very much in tune with the questions I have asked myself over the years in the face of every death in the family and in my acquaintance. 

In the face of impermanence, all our actions are absurd, says Camus. In the face of this absurdity, life itself makes no sense—Camus recommends ‘revolt’ : and now that I think about it, writing has been my act of revolt. 

Creation may not assure permanence, but it is a gesture against the ceaseless toil of our lives, which are destined, after all, to end in death. It is my way towards freedom and passion, and as a writer, my answer to the ‘absurdity’ of human existence.

Thanks Christine, for organizing this blogfest, and inspiring me to think about my writing in an entirely new way.
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I also want to tell everyone to look out for the super-talented Patricia Lynne‘s Guest post at Daily (w)rite tomorrow. She is promoting her book Being Human, and I’m looking forward to reading it!

Visit  Talespinning on 30th August for my interview by Stuart Nager, an amazing writer and a prolific  blogger, (with whom I and a few other bloggers are working to create the Rule of Three fiction blogfest to be announced soon!) 


Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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8 Comments

  • I've never heard of that book, but it sounds incredibly profound. Two books that changed my worldview were The Diary of a Young Girl (or whatever the Anne Frank book was actually called) and Hiroshima. I found the latter at a garage sale and read it before I'd learned about it in school.

  • Isn't it interesting how many different roles a single book can play in our lives? This was a very interesting Spark. What a curious book! Thanks for participating with such an original post.

  • Hi Damyanti,

    I'm a new follower and fellow campaigner in the short stories group. Looking forward to checking back throughout the campaign.

  • L'Aussie says:

    Hi Damyanti. I'm popping by to say hi. Been awhile. I see we're in the same Literary Fiction group in the campaign. Hope we get to do some fun suff together. It's up to us…

    Denise

  • cleemckenzie says:

    That guy with the big rock and liver problem got to me too. Interesting that something written so long ago still carries a wallop!

    I'm in the Sparkfest and enjoying meeting so many new writers.

  • Madeleine says:

    Now that is intiguing. I may look that one up :O)

  • Hi, Damyanti! This is interesting. I studied a couple of Camus' short stories in college, but I haven't read his novels or nonfiction. One of my friends liked The Stranger a lot.

    Have a great weekend!

  • I haven't read this book by Camus, but I read the plague. It was interesting to see how a tragedy could bring out different things in people.