Nagel went on to conclude, calmly, that we shouldn't worry too much, because if, under the eye of eternity, nothing matters "then that doesn't matter either, and we can approach our absurd lives with irony instead of heroism or despair".
I last encountered the provocateur Michael Portnoy when I took part in an absurd live gameshow he hosted at Documenta 12. Portnoy's Relational Stalinism: The Musical at the Black-E is a stunning performance, as much theatre and parlour game as art.
Tragic consciousness is the conclusion of "absurd reasoning": living fully aware of the bitterness of our being and consciously facing our fate.
Of course it's absurd to live your life dreading some unspecified disaster".
"It was absolutely absurd: I lived in fear of him, I said, and Yngve said dad controlled him and his thoughts even now".
As a biographical claim, this is of course absurd: Monroe lived the life of a rich and famous movie star, while Plath scraped out a living as a writer and teacher, not achieving any kind of renown until several years after her death.
Grainger wrote: "It seems to me absurd to live in an age of flying, and yet not be able to execute tonal glides and curves".
The idea of a new winter garden - a very Victorian idea - must seem absurd to anyone living south of the Severn-Humber divide.
"We think that it's absurd people are living in poverty," she said.
See the clip below and go to WSJ.com for more absurd costs of living for this rich little tyke.
