Albert Camus - Biography
A French-Algerian author, journalist, and philosopher
Awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature "for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times”
Often referred to as an Existentialist, but he rejected this
Atheist, although he wrote that his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy of nihilism while still delving deeply into individual freedom
His views contributed to the rise of the movement known as absurdism
His father, a poor agricultural worker, died in World War I. Camus and his mother lived in poor conditions during his childhood in Algiers.
He was a bright child and later studied at the University of Algiers
He became associated with the French anarchist movement, writing for numerous anarchist publications, supporting the uprising of 1953 in East Germany, the workers’ uprising in Poland in 1956, and then later in the year with the Hungarian Revolution.
In 1934, he married Simone Hie, a morphine addict, but the marriage ended as a consequence of infidelities on both sides
In 1935, he founded Théâtre du Travail (Worker's Theatre), which closed in 1939
He was rejected by the French army because of his TB
In 1940, Camus married Francine Faure, and they had twins. Despite this, he conducted numerous and public affairs
He witnessed Nazi occupation in Paris in 1941, the same year he wrote ‘The Outsider’
Joined the French Resistance, publishing an underground newspaper
He was in Paris when the Allies liberated the city, where he reported on the last of the fighting
Soon after, he was one of the few French editors to publicly express opposition to the United States' dropping the atomic bomb in Hiroshima
In 1947 he became acquainted with Jean-Paul Sartre, but they later fell out
In 1949 his TB returned and Camus lived in seclusion for two years
Camus's first significant contribution to philosophy was his idea of the absurd. He saw it as the result of our desire for clarity and meaning within a world and condition that offers neither, which incorporated into many of his other works, such as The Stranger and The Plague.
Despite his split from Sartre, some still argue that Camus falls into the existentialist camp. He specifically rejected that label but his personal understanding of the world (e.g. "a benign indifference", in The Stranger), bears strong resemblance.
Camus died on 4 January 1960 at the age of 46 in a car accident
He was survived by his wife and twin children, Catherine and Jean, who hold the copyrights to his work
Awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature "for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times”
Often referred to as an Existentialist, but he rejected this
Atheist, although he wrote that his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy of nihilism while still delving deeply into individual freedom
His views contributed to the rise of the movement known as absurdism
His father, a poor agricultural worker, died in World War I. Camus and his mother lived in poor conditions during his childhood in Algiers.
He was a bright child and later studied at the University of Algiers
He became associated with the French anarchist movement, writing for numerous anarchist publications, supporting the uprising of 1953 in East Germany, the workers’ uprising in Poland in 1956, and then later in the year with the Hungarian Revolution.
In 1934, he married Simone Hie, a morphine addict, but the marriage ended as a consequence of infidelities on both sides
In 1935, he founded Théâtre du Travail (Worker's Theatre), which closed in 1939
He was rejected by the French army because of his TB
In 1940, Camus married Francine Faure, and they had twins. Despite this, he conducted numerous and public affairs
He witnessed Nazi occupation in Paris in 1941, the same year he wrote ‘The Outsider’
Joined the French Resistance, publishing an underground newspaper
He was in Paris when the Allies liberated the city, where he reported on the last of the fighting
Soon after, he was one of the few French editors to publicly express opposition to the United States' dropping the atomic bomb in Hiroshima
In 1947 he became acquainted with Jean-Paul Sartre, but they later fell out
In 1949 his TB returned and Camus lived in seclusion for two years
Camus's first significant contribution to philosophy was his idea of the absurd. He saw it as the result of our desire for clarity and meaning within a world and condition that offers neither, which incorporated into many of his other works, such as The Stranger and The Plague.
Despite his split from Sartre, some still argue that Camus falls into the existentialist camp. He specifically rejected that label but his personal understanding of the world (e.g. "a benign indifference", in The Stranger), bears strong resemblance.
Camus died on 4 January 1960 at the age of 46 in a car accident
He was survived by his wife and twin children, Catherine and Jean, who hold the copyrights to his work