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Albert Camus

Born

in Mondovi, Algeria

November 07, 1913

Died

January 04, 1960

Genre

Fiction, Philosophy

Influences

Friedrich Nietzsche, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Edmund Husserl, H ...more

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Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a representative of non-metropolitan French literature. His origin in Algeria and his experiences there in the thirties were dominating influences in his thought and work. Of semi-proletarian parents, early attached to intellectual circles of strongly revolutionary tendencies, with a deep interest in philosophy (only chance prevented him from pursuing a university career in that field), he came to France at the age of twenty-five. The man and the times met: Camus joined the resistance movement during the occupation and after the liberation was a columnist for the newspaper Combat. But his journalistic activities had been chiefly a response to the demands of the time; in 1947 Camus retired from political journali Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a representative of non-metropolitan French literature. His origin in Algeria and his experiences there in the thirties were dominating influences in his thought and work. Of semi-proletarian parents, early attached to intellectual circles of strongly revolutionary tendencies, with a deep interest in philosophy (only chance prevented him from pursuing a university career in that field), he came to France at the age of twenty-five. The man and the times met: Camus joined the resistance movement during the occupation and after the liberation was a columnist for the newspaper Combat. But his journalistic activities had been chiefly a response to the demands of the time; in 1947 Camus retired from political journalism and, besides writing his fiction and essays, was very active in the theatre as producer and playwright (e.g., Caligula, 1944). He also adapted plays by Calderon, Lope de Vega, Dino Buzzati, and Faulkner's Requiem for a Nun. His love for the theatre may be traced back to his membership in L'Equipe, an Algerian theatre group, whose "collective creation" Révolte dans les Asturies (1934) was banned for political reasons.

The essay Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus), 1942, expounds Camus's notion of the absurd and of its acceptance with "the total absence of hope, which has nothing to do with despair, a continual refusal, which must not be confused with renouncement - and a conscious dissatisfaction". Meursault, central character of L'Étranger (The Stranger), 1942, illustrates much of this essay: man as the nauseated victim of the absurd orthodoxy of habit, later - when the young killer faces execution - tempted by despair, hope, and salvation. Dr. Rieux of La Peste (The Plague), 1947, who tirelessly attends the plague-stricken citizens of Oran, enacts the revolt against a world of the absurd and of injustice, and confirms Camus's words: "We refuse to despair of mankind. Without having the unreasonable ambition to save men, we still want to serve them". Other well-known works of Camus are La Chute (The Fall), 1956, and L'Exil et le royaume (Exile and the Kingdom), 1957. His austere search for moral order found its aesthetic correlative in the classicism of his art. He was a stylist of great purity and intense concentration and rationality.

Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1959.

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.

Chinese 阿尔贝·加缪 ...more

Combine Editions
Albert Camus’s books

Average rating: 4.02 · 1,495,165 ratings · 70,049 reviews · 773 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Stranger 4.01 avg rating — 949,516 ratings — published 1942 — 1887 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Plague 4.02 avg rating — 236,410 ratings — published 1947 — 514 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fall 4.04 avg rating — 92,800 ratings — published 1956 — 400 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus, Justin O'Brien (Translator) 4.22 avg rating — 51,498 ratings — published 1942 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus, Justin O'Brien (Translator), Corrado Rosso (Preface), James Wood (Introduction) 4.18 avg rating — 45,909 ratings — published 1942 — 179 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Rebel 4.14 avg rating — 14,633 ratings — published 1951 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Happy Death by Albert Camus, Richard Howard (Translator), Jean Sarocchi (Afterword & Notes) 3.81 avg rating — 15,550 ratings — published 1971 — 150 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Caligula 4.10 avg rating — 12,274 ratings — published 1944 — 98 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Exile and the Kingdom 3.87 avg rating — 12,143 ratings — published 1957 — 154 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The First Man 3.97 avg rating — 8,717 ratings — published 1994 — 162 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Albert Camus…

Quotes by Albert Camus (?)

“Don’t walk in front of me… I may not follow
Don’t walk behind me… I may not lead
Walk beside me… just be my friend”
― Albert Camus

tags: attributed-no-source, friends, friendship, misattributed-albert-camus

90610 likes

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”
― Albert Camus

tags: attributed-no-source, happiness, meaning-of-life

13279 likes

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
― Albert Camus

tags: seasons, strength, trial, triumph

10624 likes

See all Albert Camus's quotes »

Polls

August 2020 New School Group Read Poll

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, 1968, 297 pages

83 votes, 24.8%

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, 1997, 340 pages

73 votes, 21.8%

The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus, 1942, 212 pages

50 votes, 14.9%

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, 1988, 561 pages

46 votes, 13.7%

Native Son by Richard Wright, 1940, 504 pages

38 votes, 11.3%

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, 1991, 371 pages

27 votes, 8.1%

Independent People by Halldór Laxness, 1934, 482 pages

18 votes, 5.4%

335 total votes

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