The Human Predicament

Alienation means you don't feel at ease in any situation, any place, or with any person, not even with yourself. You are always trying to get "home" but never feel at home.

Some of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, such as Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, T. S. Eliot, and James Joyce, recognized alienation as the universal dilemma of human existence, probably felt it deeply within themselves and so were able to express it brilliantly in their works.

They don't offer a solution. Their contribution is to show us a reflection of the human predicament so that we can see it more clearly.

To see one's predicament clearly is a first step toward going beyond it.