Abstract

In Sein und Zeit Martin Heidegger deals with two different types of existence: the authentic life and the inauthentic life. Heidegger’s Dasein is thrown, at birth, in the inauthenticity, but he has the possibility to come out from this condition and to reach the authenticity. The human being can make a choice, which allows him to be truly himself and to find a cure, an antidote, in order to stop feeling “other than himself”. I will analyze two literary works where the main characters are concrete portrayals of Heidegger’s authentic and inauthentic man: the science-fiction short story The Bicentennial Man written by Isaac Asimov and the novel The Stranger written by Albert Camus.