A List of Available Smiles
Title: A List of Available Smiles
Pairing: Phan
Rating: PG-13 (although possibly triggery)
Warnings: Depression (NO self-harm, NO suicide, NO eating disorders)
Wordcount: 13,829
Disclaimer: Most emphatically, I do not believe this to be true.
Summary: This is the truth of depression: it doesn't stop you laughing. It just stops you feeling happy. And it ( Read more... )
"Je voulais dire seulement que le héros du livre est condamné parce qu’il ne joue pas le jeu... Et c’est pourquoi des lecteurs ont été tenté de le considérer comme une épave. Meursault ne joue pas le jeu. La réponse est simple: il refuse de mentir."
That's a quote from Albert Camus, a French philosopher, talking about his book L'Etranger. Just in case you don't speak French, I'll translate:
"I only wanted to say that the hero of the book is condemned because he doesn't play the game... And that's why some readers have been tempted to consider him as a write-off. Meursault doesn't play the game. The answer is simple: he refuses to lie."
This is part of Camus's philosophy of the Absurd. The idea is that nothing has any meaning. Nothing we do has any consequence. And so we all construct ways of giving our lives meaning, be that through religion or law or arbitrary rules of politeness. We construct our lives in such a way that we don't have to contemplate the idea that nothing is worth anything.
We read that book in class when I was seventeen. "That's so weird," said everyone else. "That's... exactly what I've been thinking for the past four years," I said.
Basically, this is me disavowing creative ownership over that idea! Okay, next comment...
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