Sisyphean

Def: Endlessly laborious and fruitless.

Albert Camus wrote an essay The Myth of Sisyphus in which he compares man's eternal and, in his view, futile search for meaning to the task that the mythical king was compelled to perform for all eternity. He concludes by saying that life is itself the end: "One must imagine Sisyphus happy." From: Gowri (via Wordsmith Talk bulletin board)

(I thought of all the explanations of the modern philosophy of our day, the above quote from Camus, the unbelieving existentialist, sums it up quite succinctly. It is most depressing. No hope. Sisyphus was confined to push a boulder up a hill and then have it fall back only to push it up again...forever repeating... and the religion of existentialism concludes that "one must imagine Sisyphus happy." That's sad. Very sad. - Linda)

Sisyphus in popular culture:

WALL-E, 2008, Academy-Award-winning animated movie directed by Andrew Stanton featured a robot who continually builds towers of trash-compacted cubes; these towers erode and collapse in the wind. Pixar creative team referenced Sisyphus in planning the character of WALL-E.
Cool Hand Luke, a popular movie starring Paul Newman in which the title character is a defiant prisoner at a work camp. His futile efforts to challenge authority, such as his escape attempts, result in equally pointless punishments, such as digging holes and filling them back in.
1866 Sisyphus, asteroid
Stone of Sisyphus, the previously unreleased album by the band Chicago
Sisyphus (dialogue), a dialogue ascribed to Plato
“Sysyphus,” an instrumental by Richard Wright of Pink Floyd
“Carve Away the Stone,” track 11 on the album Test for Echo by Rush. Lyrics written by Neil Peart.

FYI: Sisyphus is pushing that rock from the deepest depth of the unseen world, the Tartarus of hell. To hear a series of messages on hell visit the website of Grace Life Bible Church and click Online Messages, and get ready to have your hair stand on end!