Existentialism

Existentialism is a wide-spread cultural movement that took place in the 19th century. In literature, existentialism was established by Hermann Hesse with his novel "Steppenwolf" 1928. The trend is devoted picturing "existential problems".

The center of existentialism is an acting, feeling and living human individual. The

individual's starting point is characterized by the "existential attitude". Lots of existential philosophers took into account systematic and classical scientific approach. It is quite close to the Realism in a certain way. It emerged as a movement in the 20th century literature and philosophy.

Jack Kerouac and Beat poets joined this literary trend. Most of the writers were either French or French-African origin.

The traces of existentialism could be deduced in numerous literary and philosophical creations, including Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Kafka, Nietzsche, Gilles Deleuze and Eduard Hartmann, but the main founders are considered to be Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche.

In cinema, there appeared a cinema trend under the name of "Arthouse" that devoted its main creations to the existentialistic tendency.