BIOGRAPHY ALBERT CAMUS – Deeply humanist, Albert Camus is one of the men of Letters who marked the 20th century. He is also the ninth French to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.
Short biography of Albert Camus – Born November 7, 1913 in Mondovi (hamlet of Saint-Paul), in French Algeria, Albert Camus is at the same time a French writer, playwright, essayist, journalist and philosopher. He is particularly known for his humanistic ideas based on the awareness of the absurdity of the human condition and its political positions. During the Second World War, Albert Camus was a journalist engaged in the Resistance. In 1942, he published his first novel, The Stranger, which belongs to his cycle on the absurd. He then moved closer to libertarian currents in the post-war period. Author of plays, novels, short stories, films, poems and essays, he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. Camus delivers a tribune in the newspaper Combat, where he expresses his opinions on such sensitive subjects as the post-war Communist Party or the question of independence of Algeria. He fights ceaselessly and all his life against ideologies which distance himself from the human, he therefore refuses existentialism but also Marxism and Soviet totalitarianism, which leads him to cut ties with Jean-Paul Sartre. and old friends.
Released in 1942, Albert Camus’ first novel was called “L’Etranger”. The writer thus begins his absurd cycle which includes a novel, an essay (The Myth of Sisyphus) and two plays (Caligula and Misunderstanding). This philosophical work begins with a phrase almost as well known as the novel: “Today, my mother is dead. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.“The book tells the story of a man, Meursault, in the colonial context of French Algeria. This main character, who seems detached from the world around him, will commit an irreparable act and find himself facing justice Even during his trial, Meursault remains a foreigner to the society in which he lives, a misunderstood. Albert Camus reveals his point of view on this man: “However, we will have a more exact idea of the character, more in line in any case with the intentions of its author, if we wonder how Meursault is not playing the game. The answer is simple: he refuses to lie.. “
the June 6, 1944 is a famous date, both for history and for the life of Albert Camus. It is indeed about the landing of the Allies in Normandy, but also and especially of the meeting of Camus with his great love, Maria Casarès. The promising 21-year-old actress and the already famous 30-year-old writer are starting a passionate relationship and (more or less) secret which will last until the untimely death of Camus. Indeed, Albert Camus was married (and will remain so) to Francine Faure, a teacher in Oran and mother of the twins Catherine and Jean Camus. Maria will be the Martha of Misunderstanding, the second play written by Albert. The two lovers will live their romance from a distance, taking advantage of moments of euphoria during their dates, and of great sorrow when the separation becomes too hard. These feelings are revealed on both sides by their (very) abundant correspondence, nearly 865 letters exchanged, and offer the image of a man on edge of skin far from the reserved writer. Moreover, the last letter he wrote (entitled Last letter – a premonition?) Is intended for Maria. Dated December 30, 1959, Albert Camus wrote to his lifelong lover that he was to see in Paris the following week “See you soon, my beautiful. I’m so happy at the idea of seeing you again that I laughed while writing to you (…). I kiss you, I hold you close to me until Tuesday, when I will do it again. “
However, Albert Camus will never arrive in Paris. the January 4, 1960, Albert Camus died suddenly in a car accident in Villeblevin with Michel Gallimard, the nephew of the publisher Gaston Gallimard. Gallimard’s Facel Vega crashes into a plane tree and instantly kills the writer, while his friend dies six days later from his injuries. The free speed of the time got the better of the two men, carried away in the luxury car at nearly 180 km / h. At the scene of the accident, in Villeblevin in Yonne, the manuscript of his unfinished novel “Premier Homme” was found. The one in which Camus confided to Maria Casares that he would undoubtedly be the masterpiece of his writings. The latter will not be published until 1994.
- The Stranger in 1942
- The Myth of Sisyphus in 1942
- Caligula, play written in 1939, published in 1944 and performed for the first time in 1945
- The Plague in 1947
- The man revolted in 1951
- Summer in 1954
- The Fall in 1956
Albert Camus: key dates
- November 7, 1913: Birth of Camus
- On November 7, 1913, Albert Camus was born in Mondovi in Algeria. He is a great French writer and philosopher. His work is complete and composed of poems, plays, novels, short stories and essays. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. Albert Camus uses his work to promote his ideas and opinions on communism, war, the atomic bomb, colonialism, fascist Germany and Stalinism. He died in a traffic accident on January 4, 1960.
- October 17, 1957: Albert Camus obtains the Nobel Prize for Literature
- At 44, the French writer Albert Camus received the Nobel Prize for Literature for: “The body of a work that highlights the problems facing human consciousness today.”
- January 4, 1960: Death of Albert Camus
- At 13:55 the car of the director of the editions of “La Pléiade” Michel Gallimard, crashes against a tree in Villeblevin in the Yonne. On board, Mr. Gallimard’s driver, his driver and Albert Camus. Sitting to the right of the driver, the latter is killed instantly. He is 53 years old. French writer and philosopher author of “L’Etranger” (1942) and “Plague“(1947) had received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957. Inside the damaged automobile we will find the unfinished manuscript of Camus’ autobiographical story,” The First Man “.
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