Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the
1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His works include ''
The Stranger'', ''
The Plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
'', ''
The Myth of Sisyphus
''The Myth of Sisyphus'' (french: link=no, Le mythe de Sisyphe) is a 1942 philosophical essay by Albert Camus.
Influenced by philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche, Camus introduces his philosophy ...
'', ''
The Fall'', and ''
The Rebel''.
Camus was born in
French Algeria
French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...
to ''
Pieds Noirs'' parents. He spent his childhood in a poor neighbourhood and later studied philosophy at the
University of Algiers
The University of Algiers (Arabic:جامعة الجزائر – بن يوسف بن خـدة ), commonly called the Algiers 1 University, is a public research university located in Algiers, Algeria. It is the oldest and most prestigious universi ...
. He was in Paris when the
Germans invaded France during World War II in 1940. Camus tried to flee but finally joined the
French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
where he served as editor-in-chief at ''
Combat
Combat (French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
'', an outlawed newspaper. After the war, he was a celebrity figure and gave many lectures around the world. He married twice but had many extramarital affairs. Camus was politically active; he was part of
the left that opposed
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...
and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
because of their
totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regu ...
. Camus was a
moralist
Moralism is any philosophy with the central focus of applying moral judgements. The term is commonly used as a pejorative to mean "being overly concerned with making moral judgments or being illiberal in the judgments one makes".
Moralism has s ...
and leaned towards
anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in ...
. He was part of many organisations seeking European integration. During the
Algerian War
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
(1954–1962), he kept a neutral stance, advocating for a multicultural and pluralistic Algeria, a position that caused controversy and was rejected by most parties.
Philosophically, Camus's views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as
absurdism
Absurdism is the philosophical theory that existence in general is absurd. This implies that the world lacks meaning or a higher purpose and is not fully intelligible by reason. The term "absurd" also has a more specific sense in the context ...
. Some consider Camus's work to show him to be an
existentialist
Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...
, even though he himself firmly rejected the term throughout his lifetime.
Life
Early years and education
![Algiers The University (GRI)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Algiers_The_University_%28GRI%29.jpg)
Albert Camus was born on 7 November 1913 in a working-class neighbourhood in Mondovi (present-day
Dréan), in
French Algeria
French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...
. His mother, Catherine Hélène Camus (née Sintès), was French with
Balearic Spanish ancestry. He never knew his father, Lucien Camus, a poor French agricultural worker killed in the
Battle of the Marne in 1914 during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. Camus, his mother and other relatives lived without many basic material possessions during his childhood in the Belcourt section of
Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...
. Camus was a second-generation French in Algeria, a French territory from 1830 until 1962. His paternal grandfather, along with many others of his generation, had moved to Algeria for a better life during the first decades of the 19th century. Hence, he was called french:
pied-noir
The ''Pieds-Noirs'' (; ; ''Pied-Noir''), are the people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962; the vast majority of whom departed for mainland France as soon as Alger ...
, label=none, lit='black foot'—a slang term for French people born in Algeria. His identity and poor background had a substantial effect on his later life. Nevertheless, Camus was a French citizen and enjoyed more rights than
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and
Berber
Berber or Berbers may refer to:
Ethnic group
* Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa
* Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages
Places
* Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile
People with the surname
* Ady Berber (1913–19 ...
Algerians under
indigénat. During his childhood, he developed a love for football and swimming.
Under the influence of his teacher Louis Germain, Camus gained a scholarship in 1924 to continue his studies at a prestigious
lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...
(secondary school) near Algiers. In 1930, at the age of 17, he was diagnosed with
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...
. Because it is a transmitted disease, he moved out of his home and stayed with his uncle Gustave Acault, a butcher, who influenced the young Camus. It was at that time he turned to philosophy, with the mentoring of his philosophy teacher
Jean Grenier
Jean Grenier (6 February 1898 – 5 March 1971, Dreux-Venouillet, Eure-et-Loir) was a French philosopher and writer. He taught for a time in Algiers, where he became a significant influence on the young Albert Camus.
Biography
Born in Paris, ...
. He was impressed by
ancient Greek philosopher
Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empire ...
s and
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
. During that time, he was only able to study part-time. To earn money, he took odd jobs: as a private tutor, car parts clerk, and assistant at the Meteorological Institute.
In 1933, Camus enrolled at the
University of Algiers
The University of Algiers (Arabic:جامعة الجزائر – بن يوسف بن خـدة ), commonly called the Algiers 1 University, is a public research university located in Algiers, Algeria. It is the oldest and most prestigious universi ...
and completed his ''
licence de philosophie'' (
BA) in 1936; after presenting his thesis on
Plotinus
Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher wa ...
. Camus developed an interest in early Christian philosophers, but Nietzsche and
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...
had paved the way towards
pessimism
Pessimism is a negative mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is " Is the glass half emp ...
and atheism. Camus also studied novelist-philosophers such as
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de ...
,
Herman Melville
Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are '' Moby-Dick'' (1851); '' Typee'' (1846), a ...
,
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typ ...
. In 1933, he also met Simone Hié, then a partner of a friend of Camus, who would become his first wife.
Camus played
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...
for the
Racing Universitaire d'Alger junior team from 1928 to 1930. The sense of team spirit, fraternity, and common purpose appealed to him enormously. In match reports, he was often praised for playing with passion and courage. Any football ambitions, however, disappeared when he contracted tuberculosis. Camus drew parallels among football, human existence, morality, and personal identity. For him, the simplistic morality of football contradicted the complicated morality imposed by authorities such as the state and Church.
Formative years
In 1934, aged 20, Camus was in a relationship with Simone Hié. Simone had an addiction to
morphine
Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. T ...
, a drug she used to ease her menstrual pains. His uncle Gustave did not approve of the relationship, but Camus married Hié to help her fight her addiction. He subsequently discovered she was in a relationship with her doctor at the same time and the couple later divorced.
Camus joined the
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European ...
(PCF) in early 1935. He saw it as a way to "fight inequalities between Europeans and 'natives' in Algeria," even though he was not a
Marxist
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...
. He explained: "We might see communism as a springboard and asceticism that prepares the ground for more spiritual activities." Camus left the PCF a year later. In 1936, the independence-minded
Algerian Communist Party
The Algerian Communist Party (french: Parti Communiste Algérien; ar, الحزب الشيوعي الجزائري) was a communist party in Algeria. The PCA emerged in 1920 as an extension of the French Communist Party (PCF) and eventually beca ...
(PCA) was founded, and Camus joined it after his mentor Grenier advised him to do so. Camus's main role within the PCA was to organise the ''Théâtre du Travail'' ("Workers' Theatre"). Camus was also close to the ''Parti du Peuple Algérien'' (
Algerian People's Party The Algerian People's Party (in French, Parti du Peuple Algerien PPA), was a successor organization of the North African Star (''Étoile Nord-Africaine''), led by veteran Algerian nationalist Messali Hadj. It was formed on March 11, 1937. In 1936, ...
(PPA)), which was a moderate anti-colonialist/nationalist party. As tensions in the
interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...
escalated, the
Stalinist
Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...
PCA and PPA broke ties. Camus was expelled from the PCA for refusing to toe the party line. This series of events sharpened his belief in human dignity. Camus's mistrust of bureaucracies that aimed for efficiency instead of justice grew. He continued his involvement with theatre and renamed his group ''Théâtre de l'Equipe'' ("Theatre of the Team"). Some of his scripts were the basis for his later novels.
In 1938, Camus began working for the leftist newspaper ''
Alger républicain'' (founded by
Pascal Pia) as he had strong anti-fascist feelings, and the rise of fascist regimes in Europe was worrying him. By then, Camus had developed strong feelings against authoritative
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their reli ...
as he witnessed the harsh treatment of the
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and Berbers by French authorities. ''Alger républicain'' was banned in 1940 and Camus flew to Paris to take a new job at ''
Paris-Soir'' as editor-in-chief. In Paris, he almost completed his "first cycle" of works dealing with the absurd and the meaningless—the novel ''L'Étranger'' (''The Outsider'' (UK), or
''The Stranger'' (US)), the philosophical essay ''Le Mythe de Sisyphe'' (''
The Myth of Sisyphus
''The Myth of Sisyphus'' (french: link=no, Le mythe de Sisyphe) is a 1942 philosophical essay by Albert Camus.
Influenced by philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche, Camus introduces his philosophy ...
'') and the play ''
Caligula
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germani ...
''. Each cycle consisted of a novel, an essay and a theatrical play.
World War II, Resistance and ''Combat''
Soon after Camus moved to Paris, the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
began to affect France. Camus volunteered to join the army but was not accepted because he once had tuberculosis. As the Germans were marching towards Paris, Camus fled. He was laid off from ''Paris-Soir'' and ended up in
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...
, where he married pianist and mathematician
Francine Faure
Francine Faure (6 December 1914 in Oran, Algeria – 24 December 1979) was a French pianist specializing in Bach and a mathematician.. She was the second wife of Albert Camus, whom he met in 1937 in Algiers. They were married in Lyon on 3 December ...
on 3 December 1940. Camus and Faure moved back to Algeria (
Oran
Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...
) where he taught in primary schools. Because of his tuberculosis, he moved to the French Alps on medical advice. There he began writing his second cycle of works, this time dealing with revolt—a novel ''La Peste'' (''
The Plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
'') and a play ''Le Malentendu'' (''
The Misunderstanding
''The Misunderstanding'' (French: ''Le Malentendu''), sometimes published as ''Cross Purpose'', is a play written in 1943 in occupied France by Albert Camus. It focuses on Camus’ idea of The Absurd.
A man who has been living overseas for man ...
''). By 1943 he was known because of his earlier work. He returned to Paris where he met and became friends with
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...
. He also became part of a circle of intellectuals including
Simone de Beauvoir
Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even ...
,
André Breton
André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first '' Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...
, and others. Among them was the actress
María Casares
María Casares (21 November 1922 – 22 November 1996) was a Spanish-born French actress and one of the most distinguished stars of the French stage and cinema. She was credited in France as Maria Casarès.
Early life
Casares was born María V ...
, who would later have an affair with Camus.
Camus took an active role in the underground resistance movement against the Germans during the
French Occupation
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Fran ...
. Upon his arrival in Paris, he started working as a journalist and editor of the banned newspaper ''
Combat
Combat (French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
''. He continued writing for the paper after the liberation of France. Camus used a pseudonym for his ''Combat'' articles and used false ID cards to avoid being captured. During that period he composed four ''
Lettres à un Ami Allemand'' (''Letters to a German Friend''), explaining why resistance was necessary.
Post–World War II
After the War, Camus lived in Paris with Faure, who gave birth to twins, Catherine and Jean, in 1945. Camus was now a celebrated writer known for his role in the Resistance. He gave lectures at various universities in the United States and Latin America during two separate trips. He also visited Algeria once more, only to leave disappointed by the continued oppressive colonial policies, which he had warned about many times. During this period he completed the second cycle of his work, with the essay ''L'Homme révolté'' (''
The Rebel''). Camus attacked
totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
while advocating
libertarian socialism
Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (2 ...
and
anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in ...
. Upsetting many of his colleagues and contemporaries in France with his rejection of communism, the book brought about the final split with Sartre. His relations with the Marxist Left deteriorated further during the
Algerian War
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
.
Camus was a strong supporter of
European integration
European integration is the process of industrial, economic, political, legal, social, and cultural integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integration has primarily come about through the European Union and its ...
in various marginal organisations working towards that end. In 1944, he founded the ''Comité français pour la féderation européenne''—(CFFE (French Committee for the European Federation))—declaring that Europe "can only evolve along the path of economic progress, democracy, and peace if the nation-states become a federation." In 1947–48, he founded the ''Groupes de Liaison Internationale'' (GLI) a trade union movement in the context of revolutionary
syndicalism
Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of prod ...
(''syndicalisme révolutionnaire''). His main aim was to express the positive side of
surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
and existentialism, rejecting the negativity and the
nihilism
Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by I ...
of André Breton. Camus also raised his voice against the
Soviet intervention in Hungary
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...
and the totalitarian tendencies of
Franco
Franco may refer to:
Name
* Franco (name)
* Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975
* Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître"
Prefix
* Franco, a prefix used when ref ...
's regime in Spain.
Camus had numerous affairs, particularly an irregular and eventually public affair with the Spanish-born actress
María Casares
María Casares (21 November 1922 – 22 November 1996) was a Spanish-born French actress and one of the most distinguished stars of the French stage and cinema. She was credited in France as Maria Casarès.
Early life
Casares was born María V ...
, with whom he had extensive correspondence. Faure did not take this affair lightly. She had a mental breakdown and needed hospitalisation in the early 1950s. Camus, who felt guilty, withdrew from public life and was slightly depressed for some time.
In 1957, Camus received the news that he was to be awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901
, ...
. This came as a shock to him. He was anticipating
André Malraux
Georges André Malraux ( , ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and Minister of Culture (France), minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (Man's Fate) (1933) won the Prix Go ...
would win the prestigious award. At age 44, he was the second-youngest recipient of the prize, after
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
, who was 42. After this he began working on his autobiography ''
Le Premier Homme'' (''The First Man'') in an attempt to examine "moral learning". He also turned to the theatre once more. Financed by the money he received with his Nobel Prize, he adapted and directed for the stage
Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
's novel ''
Demons''. The play opened in January 1959 at the
Antoine Theatre in Paris and was a critical success.
![Simone_Weil_04_(cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Simone_Weil_04_%28cropped%29.png)
During these years, he published posthumously the works of the philosopher
Simone Weil
Simone Adolphine Weil ( , ; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. Over 2,500 scholarly works have been published about her, including close analyses and readings of her work, since 1995.
...
, in the series "''Espoir''" ("Hope") which he had founded for
Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles.
Founded by Ga ...
. Weil had great influence on his philosophy,
[
] since he saw her writings as an "antidote" to
nihilism
Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by I ...
. Camus described her as "the only great spirit of our times".
[
]
Death
![Camus Monument in Villeblevin France 17-august-2003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Camus_Monument_in_Villeblevin_France_17-august-2003.4.JPG)
Camus died on 4 January 1960 at the age of 46, in a car accident near
Sens, in Le Grand Fossard in the small town of
Villeblevin
Villeblevin () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France.
The town achieved prominence in 1960 when it was the site of the car crash that killed Albert Camus
Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1 ...
. He had spent the New Year's holiday of 1960 at his house in
Lourmarin
Lourmarin (; oc, Lormarin) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Lourmarinois''.
Geography
Lourmarin is located in the French region of Provence, ...
, Vaucluse with his family, and his publisher
Michel Gallimard of
Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles.
Founded by Ga ...
, along with Gallimard's wife, Janine, and daughter. Camus's wife and children went back to Paris by train on 2 January, but Camus decided to return in Gallimard's luxurious
Facel Vega FVS. The car crashed into a
plane tree
''Platanus'' is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae.
All mature members of ''Platanus'' are tall, reaching in height. All except f ...
on a long straight stretch of the Route nationale 5 (now the
RN 6 or D606). Camus, who was in the passenger seat, died instantly. Gallimard died a few days later, although his wife and daughter were unharmed. There has been speculation that Camus was assassinated by the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
because of his criticism of Soviet abuses.
144 pages of a handwritten manuscript entitled ''Le premier Homme'' (''The First Man'') were found in the wreckage. Camus had predicted that this unfinished novel based on his childhood in Algeria would be his finest work. Camus was buried in the Lourmarin Cemetery, Vaucluse, France, where he had lived. His friend Sartre read a eulogy, paying tribute to Camus's heroic "stubborn humanism".
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...
wrote his obituary, saying, "When the door shut for him he had already written on this side of it that which every artist who also carries through life with him that one same foreknowledge and hatred of death, is hoping to do: I was here."
Literary career
![Lucia 1957](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Lucia_1957.jpg)
Camus's first publication was a play called ''
Révolte dans les Asturies'' (''Revolt in the Asturias'') written with three friends in May 1936. The subject was the 1934 revolt by Spanish miners that was brutally suppressed by the Spanish government resulting in 1,500 to 2,000 deaths. In May 1937 he wrote his first book, ''L'Envers et l'Endroit'' (''
Betwixt and Between
''Betwixt and Between'' (''L'Envers et l'endroit'', also translated as ''The Wrong Side and the Right Side'', Collection, 1937) is a work of non-fiction by Albert Camus
Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a F ...
'', also translated as ''The Wrong Side and the Right Side''). Both were published by
Edmond Charlot's small publishing house.
Camus separated his work into three cycles. Each cycle consisted of a novel, an essay, and a play. The first was the cycle of the absurd consisting of ''L'Étranger'', ''Le Mythe de Sysiphe'', and ''Caligula''. The second was the cycle of the revolt which included ''La Peste'' (''The Plague''), ''L'Homme révolté'' (''The Rebel''), and ''Les Justes'' (''The Just Assassins''). The third, the cycle of the love, consisted of ''Nemesis''. Each cycle was an examination of a theme with the use of a pagan myth and including biblical motifs.
The books in the first cycle were published between 1942 and 1944, but the theme was conceived earlier, at least as far back as 1936. With this cycle, Camus aims to pose a question on the
human condition
The human condition is all of the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered and analyzed f ...
, discuss the world as an absurd place, and warn humanity of the consequences of totalitarianism.
Camus began his work on the second cycle while he was in
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
, in the last months of 1942, just as the Germans were reaching North Africa. In the second cycle, Camus used
Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...
, who is depicted as a revolutionary humanist, to highlight the nuances between revolution and rebellion. He analyses various aspects of rebellion, its metaphysics, its connection to politics, and examines it under the lens of modernity, of
historicity
Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status. Historicity denot ...
and the absence of a God.
After receiving the Nobel Prize, Camus gathered, clarified, and published his pacifist leaning views at ''Actuelles III: Chronique algérienne 1939–1958'' (''Algerian Chronicles''). He then decided to distance himself from the Algerian War as he found the mental burden too heavy. He turned to theatre and the third cycle which was about love and the goddess
Nemesis.
Two of Camus's works were published posthumously. The first entitled ''La mort heureuse'' (''
A Happy Death'') (1970), features a character named Patrice Mersault, comparable to ''The Stranger''s Meursault. There is scholarly debate about the relationship between the two books. The second was an unfinished novel, ''Le Premier homme'' (''The First Man'') (1995), which Camus was writing before he died. It was an autobiographical work about his childhood in Algeria and its publication in 1994 sparked a widespread reconsideration of Camus's allegedly unrepentant colonialism.
Political stance
Camus was a
moralist
Moralism is any philosophy with the central focus of applying moral judgements. The term is commonly used as a pejorative to mean "being overly concerned with making moral judgments or being illiberal in the judgments one makes".
Moralism has s ...
; he claimed morality should guide politics. While he did not deny that morals change over time, he rejected the classical
Marxist
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...
view that historical material relations define morality.
Camus was also strongly critical of
Marxism-Leninism, especially in the case of the Soviet Union, which he considered
totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
. Camus rebuked those sympathetic to the Soviet model and their "decision to call total servitude freedom". A proponent of
libertarian socialism
Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (2 ...
, he claimed the USSR was not socialist, and the United States was not liberal. His critique of the USSR caused him to clash with others on the political left, most notably with his on-again, off-again friend Jean-Paul Sartre.
Active in the
French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
to the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, Camus wrote for and edited the Resistance journal ''
Combat
Combat (French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
''. Of the
French collaboration
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...
with the German occupiers, he wrote: "Now the only moral value is courage, which is useful here for judging the puppets and chatterboxes who pretend to speak in the name of the people." After France's liberation, Camus remarked, "This country does not need a
Talleyrand, but a
Saint-Just." The reality of the
postwar tribunals soon changed his mind: Camus publicly reversed himself and became a lifelong opponent of capital punishment.
Camus had
anarchist sympathies, which intensified in the 1950s, when he came to believe that the Soviet model was morally bankrupt. Camus was firmly against any kind of exploitation, authority, property, the State, and centralization. He, however, opposed revolution, separating the
rebel
A rebel is a participant in a rebellion.
Rebel or rebels may also refer to:
People
* Rebel (given name)
* Rebel (surname)
* Patriot (American Revolution), during the American Revolution
* American Southerners, as a form of self-identification; ...
from the
revolutionary and believing that the belief in "
absolute truth
In philosophy, universality or absolutism is the idea that universal facts exist and can be progressively discovered, as opposed to relativism, which asserts that all facts are merely relative to one's perspective. Absolutism and relativism have ...
", most often assuming the guise of history or reason, inspires the revolutionary and leads to tragic results.
He believes that rebellion is spurred by our outrage over the world's lack of transcendent significance, while political rebellion is our response to attacks against the dignity and autonomy of the individual.
Camus opposed
political violence, tolerating it only in rare and very narrowly defined instances, as well as
revolutionary terror
Revolutionary terror, also referred to as revolutionary terrorism or a reign of terror, refers to the institutionalized application of force to counterrevolutionaries, particularly during the French Revolution from the years 1793 to 1795 (see th ...
which he accused of sacrificing innocent lives on the altar of history.
Philosophy professor David Sherman considers Camus an
anarcho-syndicalist
Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence i ...
.
Graeme Nicholson considers Camus an
existentialist anarchist.
The anarchist
André Prudhommeaux first introduced him at a meeting of the Cercle des Étudiants Anarchistes ("Anarchist Student Circle") in 1948 as a sympathiser familiar with anarchist thought. Camus wrote for anarchist publications such as ''
Le Libertaire
''Le Libertaire'' is a Francophone anarchist newspaper established in New York City in June 1858 by the exiled anarchist Joseph Déjacque. It appeared at slightly irregular intervals until February 1861. The title reappeared in Algiers in 1892 a ...
'' (The Libertarian), ''
La Révolution prolétarienne'' (The Proletarian Revolution), and ''
Solidaridad Obrera'' ("Workers' Solidarity"), the organ of the anarcho-syndicalist
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo ( en, National Confederation of Labor; CNT) is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist
Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionar ...
(CNT) ("National Confederation of Labor").
Camus kept a neutral stance during the
Algerian Revolution (1954–62). While he was against the violence of the
National Liberation Front (FLN) he acknowledged the injustice and brutalities imposed by colonialist France. He was supportive of
Pierre Mendès'
Unified Socialist Party (PSU) and its approach to the crisis; Mendes advocated reconciliation. Camus also supported a like-minded Algerian militant,
Aziz Kessous
Mohamed El Aziz Kessous (June 25, 1903 - May 13, 1965) was a lawyer, journalist, senior civil servant, parliamentarian and equal rights activist in Algeria. He was born on June 25, 1903, in Constantinois . Camus traveled to Algeria to negotiate a truce between the two belligerents but was met with distrust by all parties. In one, often misquoted incident, Camus confronted an Algerian critic during his 1957 Nobel Prize acceptance speech in Stockholm, rejecting the false equivalence of justice with revolutionary terrorism: "People are now planting bombs in the tramways of Algiers. My mother might be on one of those tramways. If that is justice, then I prefer my mother." Camus's critics have labelled the response as reactionary and a result of a colonialist attitude.
He was sharply critical of the
proliferation of nuclear weapons and the
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...
. In the 1950s, Camus devoted his efforts to human rights. In 1952, he resigned from his work for
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
when the UN accepted Spain, under the leadership of the
caudillo
A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...
General
Francisco Franco, as a member. Camus maintained his pacifism and resisted capital punishment anywhere in the world. He wrote an essay against capital punishment in collaboration with
Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler, (, ; ; hu, Kösztler Artúr; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was a Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler join ...
, the writer, intellectual, and founder of the League Against Capital Punishment entitled ''
Réflexions sur la peine capitale'' (Reflections on capital punishment), published by
Calmann-Levy in 1957.
Role in Algeria
Born in Algeria to French parents, Camus was familiar with the
institutional racism
Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, health ...
of France against Arabs and Berbers, but he was not part of a rich elite. He lived in very poor conditions as a child but was a citizen of France and as such was entitled to citizens' rights; members of the country's Arab and Berber majority were not.
Camus was a vocal advocate of the "new Mediterranean Culture". This was his vision of embracing the multi-ethnicity of the Algerian people, in opposition to "Latiny", a popular pro-fascist and antisemitic ideology among other ''
Pieds-Noirs''—or French or Europeans born in Algeria. For Camus, this vision encapsulated the Hellenic humanism which survived among ordinary people around the Mediterranean Sea. His 1938 address on "The New Mediterranean Culture" represents Camus's most systematic statement of his views at this time. Camus also supported the
Blum–Viollette proposal to grant Algerians full French citizenship in a manifesto with arguments defending this assimilative proposal on radical egalitarian grounds. In 1939, Camus wrote a stinging series of articles for the ''Alger républicain'' on the atrocious living conditions of the inhabitants of the
Kabylie
Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of th ...
highlands. He advocated for economic, educational and political reforms as a matter of emergency.
In 1945, following the
Sétif and Guelma massacre
The Sétif and Guelma massacre was a series of attacks by French colonial authorities and pied-noir settler militias on Algerian civilians in 1945 around the market town of Sétif, west of Constantine, in French Algeria. In response to French ...
after Arab revolts against French mistreatment, Camus was one of only a few mainland journalists to visit the colony. He wrote a series of articles reporting on conditions, and advocating for French reforms and concessions to the demands of the Algerian people.
When the Algerian War began in 1954, Camus was confronted with a moral dilemma. He identified with the ''Pieds-Noirs'' such as his own parents and defended the French government's actions against the revolt. He argued the Algerian uprising was an integral part of the "new
Arab imperialism" led by Egypt, and an "anti-Western" offensive orchestrated by Russia to "encircle Europe" and "isolate the United States". Although favoring greater Algerian
autonomy or even federation, though not full-scale independence, he believed the ''Pieds-Noirs'' and Arabs could co-exist. During the war, he advocated a civil truce that would spare the civilians. It was rejected by both sides who regarded it as foolish. Behind the scenes, he began working for imprisoned Algerians who faced the death penalty. His position drew much criticism from the left and later postcolonial literary critics, such as
Edward Said
Edward Wadie Said (; , ; 1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies.Robert Young, ''Whit ...
, who were opposed to European imperialism, and charged that Camus's novels and short stories are plagued with colonial depictions - or conscious erasures - of Algeria's Arab population. In their eyes, Camus was no longer the defender of the oppressed.
Camus once said that the troubles in Algeria "affected him as others feel pain in their lungs."
Philosophy
Existentialism
Even though Camus is mostly connected to
absurdism
Absurdism is the philosophical theory that existence in general is absurd. This implies that the world lacks meaning or a higher purpose and is not fully intelligible by reason. The term "absurd" also has a more specific sense in the context ...
, he is routinely categorized as an
existentialist
Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...
, a term he rejected on several occasions.
Camus himself said his philosophical origins lay in ancient Greek philosophy,
Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his car ...
, and 17th-century moralists whereas existentialism arises from 19th- and early 20th-century philosophy such as
Kierkegaard,
Karl Jaspers
Karl Theodor Jaspers (, ; 23 February 1883 – 26 February 1969) was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry, and philosophy. After being trained in and practicing psychiatry, Jaspe ...
, and
Heidegger
Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
. He also said his work, ''The Myth of Sisyphus'', was a criticism of various aspects of existentialism. Camus was rejecting existentialism as a philosophy, but his critique was mostly focused on
Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...
an existentialism, and to a lesser extent on religious existentialism. He thought that the importance of history held by Marx and Sartre was incompatible with his belief in human freedom. David Sherman and others also suggest the rivalry between Sartre and Camus also played a part in his rejection of existentialism. David Simpson argues further that his humanism and belief in human nature set him apart from the existentialist doctrine that
existence precedes essence
The proposition that existence precedes essence (french: l'existence précède l'essence) is a central claim of existentialism, which reverses the traditional philosophical view that the essence (the nature) of a thing is more fundamental and im ...
.
On the other hand, Camus focused most of his philosophy around existential questions. The absurdity of life, the inevitable ending (death) is highlighted in his acts. His belief was that the absurd—life being void of meaning, or man's inability to know that meaning if it were to exist—was something that man should embrace. His anti-Christianity, his commitment to individual moral freedom and responsibility are only a few of the similarities with other existential writers. More importantly, Camus addressed one of the fundamental questions of existentialism: the problem of suicide. He wrote: "There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide." Camus viewed the question of suicide as arising naturally as a solution to the absurdity of life.
Absurdism
Many existentialist writers have addressed the Absurd, each with their own interpretation of what it is and what makes it important.
Kierkegaard explains that the absurdity of religious truths prevents us from reaching God rationally. Sartre recognizes the absurdity of individual experience. Camus's thoughts on the Absurd begin with his first cycle of books and the literary essay ''The Myth of Sisyphus'', (''Le Mythe de Sisyphe''), his major work on the subject. In 1942, he published the story of a man living an absurd life in ''L'Étranger''. He also wrote a play about the Roman emperor
Caligula, pursuing an absurd logic, which was not performed until 1945. His early thoughts appeared in his first collection of essays, ''L'Envers et l'endroit'' (''Betwixt and Between'') in 1937. Absurd themes were expressed with more sophistication in his second collection of essays, ''Noces'' (''
Nuptials'') in 1938. In these essays, Camus reflects on the experience of the Absurd. Aspects of the notion of the Absurd can be found in ''The Plague''.
Camus follows Sartre's definition of the Absurd: "That which is meaningless. Thus man's existence is absurd because his contingency finds no external justification". The Absurd is created because man, who is placed in an unintelligent universe, realises that human values are not founded on a solid external component; or as Camus himself explains, the Absurd is the result of the "confrontation between human need and the unreasonable silence of the world." Even though absurdity is inescapable, Camus does not drift towards nihilism. But the realization of absurdity leads to the question: Why should someone continue to live? Suicide is an option that Camus firmly dismisses as the renunciation of human values and freedom. Rather, he proposes we accept that absurdity is a part of our lives and live with it.
The turning point in Camus's attitude to the Absurd occurs in a collection of four letters to an anonymous German friend, written between July 1943 and July 1944. The first was published in the ''Revue Libre'' in 1943, the second in the ''Cahiers de Libération'' in 1944, and the third in the newspaper ''Libertés'', in 1945. The four letters were published as ''Lettres à un ami allemand'' (''Letters to a German Friend'') in 1945, and were included in the collection ''Resistance, Rebellion, and Death''.
Camus regretted the continued reference to himself as a "philosopher of the absurd". He showed less interest in the Absurd shortly after publishing ''Le Mythe de Sisyphe''. To distinguish his ideas, scholars sometimes refer to the Paradox of the Absurd, when referring to "Camus's Absurd".
Revolt
Camus is known for articulating the case for revolting against any kind of oppression, injustice, or whatever disrespects the human condition. He is cautious enough, however, to set the limits on the rebellion. ''L'Homme révolté'' (''
The Rebel'') explains in detail his thoughts on the issue. There, he builds upon the absurd (described in ''The Myth of Sisyphus'') but goes further. In the introduction, where he examines the metaphysics of rebellion, he concludes with the phrase "I revolt, therefore we exist" implying the recognition of a common human condition. Camus also delineates the difference between revolution and rebellion and notices that history has shown that the rebel's revolution might easily end up as an oppressive regime; he therefore places importance on the morals accompanying the revolution. Camus poses a crucial question: Is it possible for humans to act in an ethical and meaningful manner, in a silent universe? According to him the answer is yes, as the experience and awareness of the Absurd creates the moral values and also sets the limits of our actions. Camus separates the modern form of rebellion into two modes. First, there is the metaphysical rebellion, which is "the movement by which man protests against his condition and against the whole of creation." The other mode, historical rebellion, is the attempt to materialize the abstract spirit of metaphysical rebellion and change the world. In this attempt, the rebel must balance between the evil of the world and the intrinsic evil which every revolt carries, and not cause any unjustifiable suffering.
Legacy
Camus's novels and philosophical essays are still influential. After his death, interest in Camus followed the rise (and diminution) of the
New Left. Following the
collapse of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
, interest in his alternative road to communism resurfaced. He is remembered for his skeptical humanism and his support for political tolerance, dialogue, and civil rights.
Although Camus has been linked to anti-Soviet communism, reaching as far as anarcho-syndicalism, some
neo-liberals have tried to associate him with their policies; for instance, the French President
Nicolas Sarkozy suggested that his remains be moved to the
Panthéon
The Panthéon (, from the Classical Greek word , , ' empleto all the gods') is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter, atop the , in the centre of the , which was named after it. The edifice was b ...
, an idea that was criticised by Camus's surviving family and angered many on the Left.
Tributes
* In
Tipasa
Tipasa, sometimes distinguished as Tipasa in Mauretania, was a colonia in the Roman province Mauretania Caesariensis, nowadays called Tipaza, and located in coastal central Algeria. Since 1982, it has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Si ...
(
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
), inside the Roman ruins, facing the sea and Mount Chenoua, a
stele was erected in 1961 in honor of Albert Camus with this phrase in French extracted from his work Noces à Tipasa: "I understand here what is called glory: the right to love beyond measure " (« Je comprends ici ce qu'on appelle gloire : le droit d'aimer sans mesure. »).
* The French Post published a stamp with his effigy on 26 June 1967.
Works
The works of Albert Camus include:
Novels
* ''
A Happy Death'' (''La Mort heureuse'') (written 1936–38, published 1971)
* ''
The Stranger'' (''L'Étranger'', often translated as ''The Outsider''. An alternate meaning of "l'étranger" is "foreigner" ) (1942)
* ''
The Plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
'' (''La Peste'') (1947)
* ''
The Fall'' (''La Chute'') (1956)
* ''
The First Man
''The First Man'' (french: Le Premier homme) is Albert Camus' unfinished final novel.
On January 4, 1960, at the age of forty-six, Camus died in a car accident. The incomplete manuscript of ''The First Man'', the autobiographical novel Camus wa ...
'' (''Le premier homme'') (incomplete, published 1994)
Short stories
* ''
Exile and the Kingdom
''Exile and the Kingdom'' (french: L'exil et le royaume) is a 1957 collection of six short stories by French writer Albert Camus
Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, ...
'' (''L'exil et le royaume'') (collection, 1957), containing the following short stories:
** "
The Adulterous Woman" (''La Femme adultère'')
** "
The Renegade or a Confused Spirit" (''Le Renégat ou un esprit confus'')
** "
The Silent Men" (''Les Muets'')
** "
The Guest" (''L'Hôte'')
** "
Jonas, or the Artist at Work" (''Jonas, ou l'artiste au travail'')
** "
The Growing Stone" (''La Pierre qui pousse'')
Academic theses
* ''
Christian Metaphysics and Neoplatonism
"Christian Metaphysics and Neoplatonism" is the title of Albert Camus' thesis that would obtain for him permission to teach in the secondary schools of France. It was published when Camus was 23 years old. Camus uses Augustine of Hippo and Pelagi ...
'' (''Métaphysique chrétienne et néoplatonisme'') (1935): the
thesis
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
that enabled Camus to teach in secondary schools in France
Non-fiction books
* ''
Betwixt and Between
''Betwixt and Between'' (''L'Envers et l'endroit'', also translated as ''The Wrong Side and the Right Side'', Collection, 1937) is a work of non-fiction by Albert Camus
Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a F ...
'' (''L'envers et l'endroit'', also translated as ''The Wrong Side and the Right Side'') (collection, 1937)
* ''
Nuptials'' (''Noces'') (1938)
* ''
The Myth of Sisyphus
''The Myth of Sisyphus'' (french: link=no, Le mythe de Sisyphe) is a 1942 philosophical essay by Albert Camus.
Influenced by philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche, Camus introduces his philosophy ...
'' (''Le Mythe de Sisyphe'') (1942)
* ''
The Rebel'' (''L'Homme révolté'') (1951)
* ''
Algerian Chronicles'' (''Chroniques algériennes'') (1958, first English translation published 2013)
* ''Resistance, Rebellion, and Death'' (collection, 1961)
* ''
Notebooks 1935–1942'' (''Carnets, mai 1935 — fevrier 1942'') (1962)
* ''
Notebooks 1942–1951'' (''Carnets II: janvier 1942-mars 1951'') (1965)
* ''Lyrical and Critical Essays'' (collection, 1968)
* ''
American Journals'' (Journaux de voyage) (1978)
* ''
Notebooks 1951–1959'' (2008). Published as ''Carnets Tome III: Mars 1951 – December 1959'' (1989)
* ''Correspondence (1944–1959)'' The correspondence of Albert Camus and
María Casares
María Casares (21 November 1922 – 22 November 1996) was a Spanish-born French actress and one of the most distinguished stars of the French stage and cinema. She was credited in France as Maria Casarès.
Early life
Casares was born María V ...
, with a preface by his daughter, Catherine Camus (2017)
Plays
* ''
Caligula
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germani ...
'' (performed 1945, written 1938)
* ''
The Misunderstanding
''The Misunderstanding'' (French: ''Le Malentendu''), sometimes published as ''Cross Purpose'', is a play written in 1943 in occupied France by Albert Camus. It focuses on Camus’ idea of The Absurd.
A man who has been living overseas for man ...
'' (''Le Malentendu'') (1944)
* ''
The State of Siege'' (''L'État de Siège'') (1948)
* ''
The Just Assassins
''The Just Assassins'' (original French title: ''Les Justes'', more literal translations would be ''The Just'' or ''The Righteous'') is a 1949 play by French writer and philosopher Albert Camus.
The play is based on the true story of a group of ...
'' (''Les Justes'') (1949)
* ''
Requiem for a Nun
''Requiem for a Nun'' is a work of fiction written by William Faulkner. It is a sequel to Faulkner's early novel ''Sanctuary'', which introduced the characters of Temple Drake, her friend (later husband) Gowan Stevens, and Gowan's uncle Gavin Ste ...
'' (''Requiem pour une nonne'', adapted from
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...
's
novel by the same name) (1956)
* ''
The Possessed'' (''Les Possédés'', adapted from
Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel ''
Demons'') (1959)
Essays
* ''
The Crisis of Man'' (''Lecture at Columbia University'') (28 March 1946)
* ''
Neither Victims nor Executioners'' (Series of essays in ''Combat'') (1946)
* ''Why Spain?'' (Essay for the theatrical play ''L'Etat de Siège'') (1948)
* ''Summer'' (''L'Été'') (1954)
* ''
Reflections on the Guillotine "Reflections on the Guillotine" is an extended essay written in 1957 by Albert Camus. In the essay Camus takes an uncompromising position for the abolition of the death penalty. Camus's view is similar to that of Cesare Beccaria and the Marquis de S ...
'' (''Réflexions sur la guillotine'') (Extended essay, 1957)
* ''Create Dangerously'' (''Essay on Realism and Artistic Creation'', lecture at the University of Uppsala in Sweden) (1957)
References
Footnotes
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
Selected biographies
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Albert Camus. Selective and Cumulative Bibliographyat University of Florida Library
Albert Camus Society UK*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camus, Albert
1913 births
1960 deaths
20th-century atheists
20th-century French dramatists and playwrights
20th-century French essayists
20th-century French male writers
20th-century French novelists
20th-century French philosophers
20th-century French journalists
20th-century short story writers
Anarcho-communists
Anarcho-pacifists
Anarcho-syndicalists
Anti-Stalinist left
Atheist philosophers
Communist members of the French Resistance
Continental philosophers
Existentialists
French anarchists
French anti-capitalists
French anti–death penalty activists
French anti-fascists
French atheists
French Communist Party members
People of French Algeria
French humanists
French male essayists
French Marxists
French Nobel laureates
French pacifists
French people of Spanish descent
French socialists
French syndicalists
Individualist anarchists
Left-libertarians
Libertarian Marxists
Libertarian socialists
Légion d'honneur refusals
Modernist writers
Nobel laureates in Literature
People from Dréan
Pieds-Noirs
Road incident deaths in France
University of Algiers alumni
Philosophers of death
Philosophers of pessimism