pt. 1. Religion and the battle against nihilism Religion and nihilism -- Unamuno and the quest for faith -- pt. 2. Revolt and despair in the Russian soul Nihilism in the Russian soul -- Nihilism and suicide -- pt. 3. The nihilism of the absurd The universe of the absurd -- Franz Kafka: the prophet of the absurd -- The battle against the absurd in France -- Henry de Montherlant: hedonism and the absurd -- Malraux: the riposte of conscience -- Albert Camus: from nihilism to revolt -- Sartre: from nausea to communism -- Ionesco and the comedy of the absurd -- Samuel Beckett: the cosmic nihilist -- Various aspects of modern nihilism -- pt. 4. Dionysian nihilism Kazantzakis: Dionysian nihilism -- Conclusion -- Appendix A Two philosophers and nihilism -- Appendix B Intimations of the absurd in the nineteenth century
