The Myth of Sisyphus The Absurd Man: Drama The actor is Camus's
second example of a life consistent with his absurdist
principles. Humans are drawn to the theatre because of the
different possibilities achievable in fiction. The absurd man as
actor is not content simply to observe and imagine lives
different from his own; he insists on living them. The actor
compresses the intensity and variety of a great many lives into
the span of his career. Both the life of the actor and the lives
of the characters he plays are fleeting. Of all artists, an
actor's fame has the shortest life span. Camus is discussing
stage actors here, who are not immortalized on film like screen
actors: certainly in Camus's day, and even today, it is
difficult to record the past performances and successes of stage
actors. As a result, their fame and glory is limited to the
response of the audience. A novelist can hope to achieve fame
after he dies, but an actor knows that his fame is limited to
what he enjoys during his career. Similarly,