Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913, in Mondovi, Algeria. His
parents were Spanish-French-Algerian (pied noir) colonists. His father,
Lucien, died in the Battle of Marne (1914) during WWI. His
mother, named Catherine Helene Sintes was of Spanish origin, she was a
deaf mute due to a stroke, but she was able to read lips and worked as
a cleaning lady, providing for her son, who loved her to tears.
Camus studied at Algiers Lycee from 1923-32, then at the University of
Algiers, from where he graduated in 1936 with a degree in philosophy.
While a student he joined the French Communist Party in 1934, but in
1936 he joined the 'Le Parti du Peuple Algerien' and was denounced by
communists as 'Trotskyite'. He was seriously influenced by the writings
of 'Andre Malraux', 'Andre Gide' and Plotinus' theory of the "One", which became
Camus' graduation thesis (1936).
He was rejected from the French army because of tuberculosis, which he
contracted in the 1930's. His first marriage to Simone Hie, a morphine
addict, ended due to infidelity from both of them. In 1940 Camus
married a pianist and mathematician Francine Faure, whom he loved and
patiently tolerated her affair with the actress María Casares. Camus and
Francine Faure had twins born in 1945.
During the Second World War Camus was a writer for 'Paris-Soir'
magazine. He was in Paris during the Wermacht occupation, and witnessed
the execution of the French communist and anti-fascist activist Gabriel
Peri by firearm, which turned Camus' mind against Nazi
Germany. He moved to Bordeaux, where he finished his early works, 'The
Stranger' and 'The Myth of Sisyphus', which opens with his famous
statement about the philosophical question of suicide, and deals with
the absurdity of existence in the meaningless struggle.
Camus joined the French Resistance cell 'Combat' and edited the
eponymous paper under the pseudonym 'Beauchard'. He reported on the
fighting when Allies liberated Paris in 1944. Camus continued his work
for 'Combat' until 1947, and through this work he became acquainted
with Jean-Paul Sartre. For a couple of years Camus was a member of Sartre's
circle at the Cafe de Flore on the Boulevard St. Germain, but Camus'
criticism of communist doctrine soon alienated Sartre. He highly regarded
Franz Kafka and William Faulkner, whose 'Requiem for a Nun' he adopted into a play.
Camus' lectures about French existentialism brought him on a 3-month
tour of the United States and Canada in 1946, where he spoke at several
universities. He lectured for 3 months in Brazil, Argentina and Chile
in 1949, where he became sick and almost suicidal. The return of his
tuberculosis forced Camus into seclusion from 1949-1951. It was during
those 2 years that he crystallized his analysis of rebels and
revolutions and published 'The Rebel'. The book clearly formulates his
rejection of communism as well as any violent activity under various
Utopian masks of 'social justice'.
Albert Camus' desire for clarity and meaning in the world that offers
nothing, but chaos, resulted in his work on the idea of absurdism. It
was incorporated in many of his works from 'The Myth of Sisyphus'
(1942), 'The Plaque' (1947), 'The Rebel' (1951), and other works.
Camus' ideas resulted from his philosophic analysis of the diverse list
of sources from 'Epicurus' to Fyodor Dostoevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, and 'Andre Breton', as well as
his own experiences in the war and his studies.
His greatest work 'The Fall' (1956) presents the monologues of a
self-proclaimed 'judge penitent' Clamence, whose character alludes to
Zarathustra from Friedrich Nietzsche and Grand Inquisitor from the 'Karamasov
Brothers' of Fyodor Dostoevsky. Camus challenges the reader with the dilemma of
accepting the absurdity of our existence and/or learning how to deal
with it as well as with the unpredictable consequences from doing something
about it.
Camus was the proponent of the idea of human rights. He resigned from
UNESCO in 1952 in protest of the UN acceptance of Spain under 'Edgar
Franco 'El General''. He protested against the Soviet crush upon
the East Berlin workers in 1953, and against the Soviet repressions in
Hungary in 1956. He was a steady supporter of pacifism and was in
opposition to capital punishment. In 1957 Camus was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Literature.
He was killed in a car accident on January 4, 1960, in the small town
of Villeblevin, France, in the car driven by his publisher and close
friend Michel Gallimard, who also died in the accident.
