Existentialism in Arun Joshi’s Novels

Abstract

Existentialism is a twentieth century’s most influential literary and philosophical movement that focuses on individual existence. It originated in the philosophical and literary works of Sartre and Camus. It focuses on acting on ones conviction in order to arrive at personal truth. Existentialism deals with the problems of the meaning and purpose of life on earth, finding the world as hostile in nature. It is an attitude, an outlook that emphasizes on the purpose and meaning of human existence in this world. Indian form of existentialism as manifested in The Gita and The Upanishads deals with the problems of our existence on earth. The basic theory of existentialism is an insistence on the actual existence of the individual as the basic and important fact, instead of a reliance on the theories of abstractions. The central doctrine is that man is what he makes of himself; he is not predestines by a God or by society, or by biology.

Keywords: Existentialism, Alienation, Existence, Technology, loneliness, Rootlessness, Labyrinth, Foreignness.