5 Existential Revelations in The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

Rainer Maria Rilke was no ordinary poet. He wasn’t here to make things sound pretty. He went digging deep into the darkest caverns of the human soul, clawing for something—anything—that could make sense of this chaos.

The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge presents the thoughts and observations of a young man, Malte Laurids Brigge, as he struggles with his existential crisis while living in Paris.

He is an artist, an observer, and a man grappling with death, isolation, and the crushing weight of human suffering.

The novel is structured as a series of journal entries, blending philosophical ruminations with vivid, sometimes disturbing, reflections on his life and the world around him.

The narrative lacks a traditional plot arc, instead providing glimpses into the emotional and intellectual unraveling of Malte’s mind.

Below are some key revelations:

1. The Weight of Existence

If you’ve ever sat down for a coffee and thought, “What the hell is the point of it all?”—congratulations. You’re on the same page as Malte Laurids Brigge.

Life is absurd. Malte can’t even make sense of his own existence, let alone the world’s. The mundane acts of daily living—eating, walking, breathing—are all weighted with a deep sense of futility.

Each moment feels both urgent and irrelevant, as if nothing matters but the thought of not being able to escape it.

Malte’s musings on life’s emptiness are raw, almost painfully self-aware. He looks at the people around him, and all he can see are hollow shells, moving through their lives without really living.

It’s as if we’re all just pretending to know what we’re doing, fumbling our way through some cosmic joke that no one told us we signed up for.

Existential QuestionMalte’s Observation
What is the purpose of life?“I go on as though there’s a point to it all, but everything is just a blur, a fading mess.”
Why do people live as if they matter?“We all move around like insects, unaware that we’re all heading toward the same inevitable end.”
What does it mean to be alive?“To be alive is to be in a state of constant discomfort, always aware of the specter of death.”

2. The Insanity of Self-Awareness

You ever take a moment and think, “Wait, I am a person, and I’m experiencing life right now?” Malte does that constantly—and it drives him nuts.

Self-awareness is a double-edged sword, and the more you slice, the deeper the wound. The more he contemplates his own existence, the more alienated he feels from himself.

It’s like standing in a mirror and realizing that you’re not really you anymore, but a mere idea of a person, a concept, a ghost haunting your own body.

This leads to one of the book’s darkest revelations: The more you know, the more insane you become.

Self-awareness is the beginning of madness. Malte is acutely aware of his own awareness—and the realization that his consciousness is just a fleeting glitch in the grand machinery of the universe sends him spiraling. It’s the curse of knowing, and it’s brutal.

Existential QuestionMalte’s Observation
What does self-awareness mean?“I can feel myself watching myself—this is no longer living; it’s observing, detached, like a phantom.”
Is self-awareness a blessing or a curse?“Once you see too much, you can never unsee it. And that, my friend, is where the madness begins.”
What does it mean to be truly oneself?“Who am I? What am I? Is this all real, or am I just an echo of my own mind?”

3. The Inescapable Reality of Death

If there’s one thing that’s undeniably true in The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, it’s that death is everywhere.

In every crevice. In every breath. Malte can’t escape it. And neither can we. He constantly circles around the idea of death, the way it sneaks up on people, the way it makes everything seem trivial.

It’s suffocating, unavoidable, like a shadow that lengthens as the day progresses.

Rilke shows us, through Malte’s eyes, that death is the ultimate existential punchline.

We all try to live like we’re immune to it, but deep down, we all know: One day, we’ll be gone, and no one will care.

Malte sees death in the old man’s eyes, in the sick child’s body, and even in the faces of strangers who are just passing through life, unknowingly heading toward the same end.

4. The Futility of Art and Creation

Malte is an artist, or at least he tries to be. But throughout the book, he comes to realize something chilling: creating art might just be a way of avoiding the truth.

It’s a way to distract from the messy, painful reality of being alive. We paint, we write, we sculpt, but why? To leave a mark? To prove we existed?

Malte begins to see his own attempts at creation as futile exercises in vanity, nothing more than desperate grabs at immortality in a world that won’t remember.

This nihilistic view of art—its pointlessness, its inability to change the world—is one of the core existential themes in the book.

The more Malte creates, the more he realizes it’s all just a futile gesture in the face of time’s unstoppable march.

5. The Paradox of Freedom

And then, we come to the final revelation: Freedom is a trap. On the surface, freedom sounds great.

You do whatever you want, no strings attached, no rules. But in Malte’s world, freedom is terrifying. It’s too much responsibility. It’s too much choice.

The more freedom he has, the more paralyzed he becomes. It’s a classic paradox. You want to live on your own terms, but the weight of those terms crushes you.

The more you’re able to choose, the less you feel like you actually have any control over your own life.

Freedom is the illusion that gives you just enough hope to keep you stuck in your cage.

Malte’s Struggle with Stoicism and Existentialism

Malte’s existential reflections link closely with both Stoicism and Existentialism, two philosophical movements that heavily influence the tone of The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge.

On one hand, Stoicism teaches acceptance of life’s struggles, focusing on what we can control and letting go of the rest.

On the other, Existentialism offers a darker view: We create meaning in a meaningless world, but we can never escape the absurdity of it.

Malte’s own mental breakdown is a perfect blend of both these philosophies. He’s trapped between the Stoic desire for peace and the existential recognition that peace might be impossible.

He understands, in some moments, that he can’t control life, and yet he’s constantly striving for answers, for meaning, for something that can make sense of it all.

PhilosophyStoicismExistentialism
View on SufferingAccept it. It’s part of life.Embrace it. It’s all there is.
View on DeathDeath is natural. Control your reaction to it.Death is absurd. Life is a futile struggle.
FreedomTrue freedom lies in acceptance of fate.Freedom is an illusion that paralyzes you.

Final Words

Malte never figures it out. He stumbles through his life, digging into the dirt of his own mind, and the more he digs, the deeper the hole gets. There is no neat resolution. There’s no answer. And maybe that’s the point.

So, let’s leave it at this: Art is a lie. Death’s the only truth. We’re all just stumbling toward the end, hoping for a moment of clarity that never comes.

And if you’re looking for some grand revelation to make it all make sense—well, sorry to disappoint you. There isn’t one. Just keep walking.

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