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Albert Camus

French philosopher, author, and journalist (1913-1960) · France · Academics · Died at 46

Albert Camus is read about 7,867 times a day, in 142 languages.

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He won the Nobel at 44 for novels that ask what it means to live in a world without inherent meaning - and spent the rest of his short life refusing the label "existentialist" while everyone kept using it anyway.

WritersWriter / AuthorLiteraturePhilosophyFictionJournalismTheatrePoetry

A life in dates

2023The GuestBook published after his death, short story by Albert Camus1994The First ManBook published after his death, novel by Albert Camus1978American JournalsBook published after his death3 May 1978, autobiographical work by Albert Camus1971A Happy DeathBook published after his death4 April 1971, novel by Albert Camus1960Died4 January 19601957“Hungary conquered and in chains has done more for freedom and justice than any people for twenty years.”In their wordsThe Blood of the Hungarians (1957)

Nobel Prize in LiteratureAward1952“One does not decide the truth of a thought according to whether it is right-wing or left-wing.”In their words30 June 1952Letter to Jean-Paul Sartre, 30 June 1952.

1948“Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of tortured children.”In their wordsSaid at the Dominican Monastery of Latour-Maubourg (1948); reported in Resistance, Rebellion and Death (translation by Justin O'Brien,

“We turn our backs on nature; we are ashamed of beauty.”In their words"Helen's Exile" (1948)

“Man cannot do without beauty, and this is what our era pretends to want to disregard.”In their words"Helen's Exile" (1948)

1938“A novel is never anything but a philosophy put into images. And in a good novel, the whole of the philosophy has passed into the images.”In their words20 October 1938Review of Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre, published in the newspaper Alger Républicain (20 October 1938), p. 5; reprinted in Selected Essays

1913Born7 November 1913

Also in Deutsch

Photos 10

A 20th-century postcard of the University of AlgiersA 20th-century postcard of the University of AlgiersAlbert Camus's gravestoneAlbert Camus's gravestoneThe bronze plaque on the monument to Camus in the town of Villeblevin, France. It reads: "From the General Council of the Yonne Department, in homage to the writer Albert Camus whose remains lay in vigil at the Villeblevin town hall on the night of 4 to 5 January 1960"The bronze plaque on the monument to Camus in the town of Villeblevin, France. It reads: "From the General Council of the Yonne Department, in homage to the writer Albert Camus whose remains lay in vigil at the Villeblevin town hall on the night of 4 to 5 January 1960"The monument to Camus built in Villeblevin, where he died in a car crash on 4 January 1960The monument to Camus built in Villeblevin, where he died in a car crash on 4 January 1960Camus crowning Stockholm's Lucia on 13 December 1957, three days after accepting the Nobel Prize in LiteratureCamus crowning Stockholm's Lucia on 13 December 1957, three days after accepting the Nobel Prize in LiteratureAdministrative organization of French Algeria between 1905 and 1955Administrative organization of French Algeria between 1905 and 1955

In their own words 10

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Albert Camus
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10 statements, newest first

  1. Hungary conquered and in chains has done more for freedom and justice than any people for twenty years.

    1957, The Blood of the Hungarians (1957), Own words

  2. O light! This is the cry of all the characters of ancient drama brought face to face with their fate. This last resort was ours, too, and I knew it now.

    1954, Return to Tipasa (1954), Own words

  3. One does not decide the truth of a thought according to whether it is right-wing or left-wing.

    Jun 30, 1952, Letter to Jean-Paul Sartre, 30 June 1952., Own words

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Awards

Nobel Prize in Literature1957

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Albert Camus

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About this person

Albert Camus was born in French Algeria on 7 November 1913, grew up poor, and studied philosophy at the University of Algiers. When the Germans invaded France in 1940 he was in Paris; he tried to flee, then joined the Resistance and became editor-in-chief of the outlawed newspaper Combat. After the war he was a celebrity, lecturing worldwide, marrying twice, taking many lovers, and writing The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Fall, and The Rebel - works that fed the philosophy called absurdism even as he rejected the existentialist tag. He opposed Stalin and Soviet totalitarianism from the left, leaned anarcho-syndicalist, pushed for European integration, and during the Algerian War held a neutral line advocating multicultural pluralism that satisfied no one. He died on 4 January 1960, three years after winning the Nobel, the second-youngest literature laureate in history and the first born in Africa.

Country
France
Category
Academics
Type
Academic
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1913 to 1960 · aged 46

Academics from France 6

René Descartes89.1Jean-Paul Sartre84.4Blaise Pascal82.9Simone de Beauvoir82.4Montesquieu81.6Denis Diderot79.5

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