The Vatican placed Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex on its list of prohibited books in 1956. It argues that "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman."

Camus used the myth to define the Absurd: the conflict between our search for meaning and a silent universe. He concluded that one must imagine Sisyphus happy.

Kierkegaard is considered the father of existentialism. He used the leap of faith to describe religious belief that transcends rational thought and empirical evidence.

The phrase first appeared in Nietzsche’s 1882 work The Gay Science and was intended as a commentary on the decline of religious morality in an increasingly secular society.

Sartre declined the award because he believed a writer should not be turned into an institution. He had previously refused the Legion of Honor for the same reason.