Albert Camus was born in Mondovi, Algeria in 1913. His
father, Lucie, fought with the French Army and died a year after his death in
the Battle of the Marne. Albert and his mother, who was of Spanish descent,
lived an impoverished lifestyle during his childhood. Camus’ fondness of his
mother can be seen throughout his texts. A majority of Camus’ characters are
also poor, just as he was. In 1930, Camus was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
Because of this, he had to attend the University of Algiers part-time and could
no longer play soccer for the University’s team. Because there was no cure for
tuberculosis at the time, Camus had to live and suffer with the condition
throughout all of his endeavors.
While Camus is typically grouped with authors like Sartre, he did not identify as an existentialist. His philosophical thought was absurdism. His political alliances, however, were not so clear. Camus was a part of the French Communist Party and the Algerian Communist Party, but he did not state that he was a Marxist. After joining the Algerian’s People Party, he was shunned by his comrades and was expelled from Communist parties. After this exile, he became a French anarchist and wrote for various anarchist sympathetic newspapers (Le Libertaire, La révolution Proletarienne, and Worker’s Solidarity). Camus also wrote for Alger-Républicain, a socialist newspaper, and was fired after reporting on the conditions of the poor in a city in Algeria. Camus had tried to enter the French army, but was rejected because of his tuberculosis. Camus won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957.
Albert Camus was first married in 1934 to Simone Hié. Their marriage failed and in 1940, he remarried to Francine Faure. Faure was a mathematician and a brilliant pianist. Despite being married twice, Camus actively opposed the institution of marriage and constantly cheated on Faure, stating that he was just not “cut out for marriage”. Faure gave Camus two children, Catherine and Jean. Camus died in a car accident in Sens, France while driving to the train station with his publisher. He died at the age of 46.
While Camus is typically grouped with authors like Sartre, he did not identify as an existentialist. His philosophical thought was absurdism. His political alliances, however, were not so clear. Camus was a part of the French Communist Party and the Algerian Communist Party, but he did not state that he was a Marxist. After joining the Algerian’s People Party, he was shunned by his comrades and was expelled from Communist parties. After this exile, he became a French anarchist and wrote for various anarchist sympathetic newspapers (Le Libertaire, La révolution Proletarienne, and Worker’s Solidarity). Camus also wrote for Alger-Républicain, a socialist newspaper, and was fired after reporting on the conditions of the poor in a city in Algeria. Camus had tried to enter the French army, but was rejected because of his tuberculosis. Camus won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957.
Albert Camus was first married in 1934 to Simone Hié. Their marriage failed and in 1940, he remarried to Francine Faure. Faure was a mathematician and a brilliant pianist. Despite being married twice, Camus actively opposed the institution of marriage and constantly cheated on Faure, stating that he was just not “cut out for marriage”. Faure gave Camus two children, Catherine and Jean. Camus died in a car accident in Sens, France while driving to the train station with his publisher. He died at the age of 46.