My knowledge of classical mythology is sketchy. I keep meaning to read Stephen Fry’s Mythos and Heroes to get up to speed but, er, I haven’t. You resolve to tackle something self-improving … and then someone at work recommends another hugely entertaining crime thriller/quirky black comedy/searing documentary and you watch telly instead. Anyway, thanks to an adolescent infatuation with supercool, polo-neck wearing, Gitane-smoking, football-playing French-Algerian philosopher Albert Camus, I am familiar with the myth of Sisyphus, which Camus used to explain his theory of the absurd. Sisyphus, having (as per usual in Greek mythology) angered the gods, was condemned to roll a boulder up a hill all day, only for it to roll back down again when he got near

Source: The Times October 12, 2024 11:05 UTC