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"...the narrator is inclined to think that by attributing overimportance to praiseworthy actions one may, by implication, be paying indirect but potent homage to the worst side of human nature. For this attitude implies that such actions shine out as rare exceptions, while callousness and apathy are the general rule." Camus, The Plague 1948
| Albert Camus, a French philosopher and one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, was born on November 7, 1913 in Mondovi, Algeria. As a child, Camus escaped the turmoils of his family life by burying himself in studies and athletics. He distinguished himself early on as a strong competitor. Camus attended the University of Algiers’ school of philosophy until his studies were interrupted by severe tuberculosis. As the disease took his strength, Camus reduced his education to a part-time endeavor. From 1931 to 1935, Camus served many odd jobs, including police clerk and salesman. He was married briefly during this time, but the union suffered divorce shortly. While he was a student, Camus joined and left the Communist Party. After many ins and outs with the party, Camus maintained himself as a socialist, founding The Worker’s Theater in 1935. From 1937 to 1939, Camus wrote for the socialist paper, the Alger-Republicain. In 1940, he left Algiers and arrived in Paris, planning to be a reporter for the leftist press. Shortly, the German army invaded France, and Camus was forced to return to North Africa. He served as an educator in Oran, remarried, and produced a set of twins. From 1940 to 1941, he wrote the first drafts of The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus, and The Plague. In the next year, Camus returned to France, joining the French Resistance and serving as an editor to one of the parties’ newspapers, Combat. After the war, Camus toured the United States, and grew stronger in his views towards Existentialism, as he witnessed the differences American culture had with his own. In 1949, Camus sustained a relapse of tuberculosis, along with other physical difficulties. Because of this, he remained in seclusion for two years while writing political essays. In 1951, after recovering from his illnesses, Camus published The Rebel, a work about artistic rebellion. It was this book that split his long-standing friendship with French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. For four years, Camus worked on translating plays, then returned to writing novels, publishing The Fall in 1956. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in the next year. After creating and publishing fourteen works, Albert Camus died in France in an automobile accident on January 4, 1960 |