Non-action And Natural VS. Fighting Against Absurdity——A Preliminary Study in the Daoist Thought of XU Di-Shan And the Existentialism of Albert Gamus

Comparing the thought of XU Di-Shan,a renowned modern Chinese writer, with that of the French existential writer Albert Gamus by examining their literary,works,this article argues that both witers express their experiences in absurd situations of life,but their ways in dealing with the absurdity are strikingly different,one is receding and the other, aggressive. Influenced by traditional Daoist ideas, Xu Dishan emphasizes to go beyond the reality by enduring the sufferings and further to naturally reach a state of purity and non-action. By contrast, Gamus aggressively challenges the absurdity by using firm and indomitable action in the style of Xixufusi's ineffectiveness to complete the"self choice"of human being. Such a comparison helps not only to understand the nature of the thoughts of these two writers but also the different patterns of thinking in the East and the West.