Albert Camus
1913–1960 · French-Algerian (Mondovi, Algeria / Paris) · Existentialism / Absurdism
Known for: Philosopher of the absurd—The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus. Nobel Prize 1957
Albert Camus grew up in poverty in French Algeria—his father was killed in WWI when Camus was an infant. He was handsome, athletic, and charming—'the Bogart of existentialism.' He was a goalkeeper, a journalist in the French Resistance, and the second-youngest Nobel Laureate in Literature.
He clashed bitterly with Sartre over Communism. He died in a car crash at 46—in his pocket was an unused train ticket (he had changed plans at the last moment). His philosophy of rebellion, solidarity, and living honestly in an absurd universe resonates universally.
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