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Albert Camus

 
Albert Camus

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Albert Camus



 
 
Albert Camus (7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was an Algeria
Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
n-born French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 author
Author

An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created....
, philosopher
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
, and journalist who won the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
 in 1957. He is often associated with existentialism
Existentialism

Existentialism is a term that has been applied to the work of a number of nineteenth and twentieth century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, took the human subject — not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual and his or her conditions of existence — as a starting point...
, but Camus refused this label. On the other hand, as he wrote in his essay The Rebel, his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy of nihilism
Nihilism

Nihilism is the philosophy position that value_theory do not exist but rather are falsely invented. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of Nihilism#Existential_nihilism which argues that life is without meaning, purpose or intrinsic value ....
 while still delving deeply into individual freedom.

In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons in the Revolutionary Union Movement, according to the book Albert Camus, une vie by Olivier Todd, a group opposed to some tendencies of the surrealistic movement of André Breton
André Breton

Andr? Breton was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist, and is best known as the main founder of surrealism. His writings include the Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as pure psychic automatism....
.






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Quotations


The important thing isn't the soundness or otherwise of the argument, but for it to make you think.

...what did his God or the lives people choose or the fate they think they elect matter to me when we're all elected by the same fate...

At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face.

Every revolutionary ends by becoming either an oppressor or a heretic.

Everything considered, a determined soul will always manage.

I had only a little time left and I didn't want to waste it on God.






Encyclopedia


Albert Camus (7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was an Algeria
Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
n-born French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 author
Author

An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created....
, philosopher
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
, and journalist who won the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
 in 1957. He is often associated with existentialism
Existentialism

Existentialism is a term that has been applied to the work of a number of nineteenth and twentieth century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, took the human subject — not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual and his or her conditions of existence — as a starting point...
, but Camus refused this label. On the other hand, as he wrote in his essay The Rebel, his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy of nihilism
Nihilism

Nihilism is the philosophy position that value_theory do not exist but rather are falsely invented. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of Nihilism#Existential_nihilism which argues that life is without meaning, purpose or intrinsic value ....
 while still delving deeply into individual freedom.

In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons in the Revolutionary Union Movement, according to the book Albert Camus, une vie by Olivier Todd, a group opposed to some tendencies of the surrealistic movement of André Breton
André Breton

Andr? Breton was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist, and is best known as the main founder of surrealism. His writings include the Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as pure psychic automatism....
. Camus was the second-youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature (after Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English author and poet. Born in Mumbai, British India , he is best known for his works of fiction The Jungle Book , Kim , many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King ; and his poems, including Mandalay , Gunga Din , and If? ....
) when he became the first Africa-born writer to receive the award, in 1957. He is also the shortest-lived of any literature laureate to date, having died in an automobile accident only three years after receiving the award.

In an interview in 1945, Camus rejected any ideological associations: "No, I am not an existentialist. Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre , commonly known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre , was a French existentialism philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism....
 and I are always surprised to see our names linked…"

Early years

Albert Camus was born on 7 November 1913 in Mondovi
Drean

Dr?an is a small coastal town in Algeria, 25 km south of Annaba, in El Taref Province. In has a population of about 40,000. During French rule in Algeria, it was known as Mondovi....
, Algeria
Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
 to a French-Algerian (Pied-Noir
Pied-noir

Pied-Noir , plural Pieds-Noirs, pronounced , is a term used to refer to colonists of Algeria until the end of the Algerian War in 1962....
) settler family. His mother was of Spanish
Spanish people

Spanish people or Spaniards are a nation or ethnic group native to Spain, in the Iberian Peninsula of southwestern Europe. They are often considered an amalgam of different ethnic groups, rather than an ethnic group by itself....
 extraction and was half-deaf. His father Lucien, a poor agricultural worker of Alsatian
Alsatian

Alsatian can refer to:* A person from the Alsace region ** List of Alsatians and Lotharingians** a speaker of the Alsatian language* A term for the German Shepherd Dog which was invented during World War I, using Alsatian as a euphemism for Germans....
 origin, died in the Battle of the Marne
First Battle of the Marne

The First Battle of the Marne was a World War I battle fought between the 5th and 12th of September 1914. It resulted in a France-United Kingdom victory against the German Empire Wehrmacht under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger....
 in 1914 during the First World War
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, while serving as a member of the Zouave
Zouave

Zouave was the title given to certain infantry regiments in the France army, normally serving in French North Africa between 1831 and 1962. The name was also adopted during the 19th century by units in other armies, especially volunteer regiments raised for service in the American Civil War....
 infantry regiment. Camus lived in poor conditions during his childhood in the Belcourt section of Algiers
Algiers

Algiers Nicknamed El-Bahdja or Alger la Blanche for the glistening white of its buildings as seen rising up from the sea, Algiers is situated on the west side of a bay of the Mediterranean Sea....
. In 1923, he was accepted into the lycée and eventually to the University of Algiers
University of Algiers

The University of Algiers Benyoucef Ben Khedda is a university located in Algiers, Algeria. It was founded in 1909 and is organized into seven faculties....
. However, he contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacterium, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, the gastrointestinal system, bones, joints, and even the...
 in 1930, which put an end to his football activities (he had been a goalkeeper
Goalkeeper

In many team sports, a goalkeeper is a designated player that is charged with directly preventing the opposite team from scoring by defending the goal ....
 for the university team) and forced him to make his studies a part-time pursuit. He took odd jobs including private tutor, car parts clerk and work for the Meteorological Institute. He completed his licence de philosophie (BA
Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin language Artium Baccalaureus, is an Undergraduate education bachelor's degree awarded for either a course or a program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
) in 1935; in May 1936, he successfully presented his thesis on Plotinus
Plotinus

Plotinus was a major Philosophy of the ancient world who is widely considered the founder of Neoplatonism . Much of our biographical information about him comes from Porphyry 's preface to his edition of Plotinus' Enneads....
, Néo-Platonisme et Pensée Chrétienne, for his diplôme d'études supérieures (roughly equivalent to an M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts is a Postgraduate education academic degree master degree awarded by University in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in English language, Fine Arts, History, Humanities, Philosophy, Social Sciences or Theology and can be either fully-taught, research-based, or a combination of the two....
 thesis).

Camus joined the French Communist Party
French Communist Party

The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. Although its electoral support has greatly declined in recent decades, it remains the largest party in France advocating communist views, and retains a large membership and considerable influence in French politics....
 in the Spring of 1935 seeing it as a way to "fight inequalities between Europeans and 'natives' in Algeria." He did not suggest he was a Marxist or that he had read Das Kapital, but did write that "[w]e might see communism as a springboard and asceticism that prepares the ground for more spiritual activities". In 1936, the independence-minded Algerian Communist Party
Algerian Communist Party

The Algerian Communist Party was a communist party in Algeria. The PCA emerged in 1920 as an extension the French Communist Party and eventually became a separate entity in 1936 ....
 (PCA) was founded. Camus joined the activities of the Algerian People's Party
Algerian People's Party

The Algerian People's Party , was a successor organization of the North African Star , led by veteran Algerian nationalism Messali Hadj. It was formed on March 11, 1937....
 (Le Parti du Peuple Algérien), which got him into trouble with his Communist party comrades. As a result, he was denounced as a Trotskyite
Trotskyism

Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an Orthodox Marxism and Bolshevik-Leninism, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party....
 and expelled from the party in 1937. Camus went on to be associated with the French anarchist
Anarchism

Anarchism is a political philosophy encompassing anarchist schools of thought which consider the state to be unnecessary, harmful, and/or undesirable....
 movement. The anarchist Andre Prudhommeaux
Andre Prudhommeaux

Andre Prudhommeaux was a French anarchist bookstore owner whose shop in Paris specialized in social history and was a place for many debates and discussions....
 first introduced him at a meeting in 1948 of the Cercle des Etudiants Anarchistes (Anarchist Student Circle) as a sympathiser who was familiar with anarchist thought. Camus went on to write for anarchist publications such as Le Libertaire, La révolution Proletarienne and Solidaridad Obrera
Solidaridad Obrera (periodical)

Solidaridad Obrera is a newspaper, published by the Catalonia/Balearic Islands regional section of the Anarchism labor union Confederaci?n Nacional del Trabajo , and mouthpiece of the CNT in Spain....
 (the organ of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo

The Confederaci?n Nacional del Trabajo is a Spain confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association ....
). Camus also stood with the anarchists when they expressed support for the uprising of 1953 in East Germany
Uprising of 1953 in East Germany

The Uprising of 1953 in East Germany took place in June 1953. A strike by Berlin construction workers on June 16 turned into a widespread uprising against the Stalinist German Democratic Republic government the next day....
. He again stood with the anarchists in 1956, first with the workers’ uprising in Poznan
Poznan

Poznan is a city in west-central Poland with over 567,882 inhabitants . Located on the Warta River, it is one of the oldest cities in Poland, making it an important historical centre and a vibrant centre of trade, industry, and education....
, Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
, and then later in the year with the Hungarian Revolution.

In 1934, he married Simone Hie, a morphine
Morphine

Morphine is a highly potent opiate analgesic Medication, is the principal active agent in opium, and is considered to be the prototypical opioid....
 addict, but the marriage ended as a consequence of infidelities on both sides. In 1935, he founded Théâtre du Travail — "Worker's Theatre" — (renamed Théâtre de l'Equipe ("Team's Theatre") in 1937), which survived until 1939. From 1937 to 1939 he wrote for a socialist paper, Alger-Républicain, and his work included an account of the peasants who lived in Kabylie
Kabylie

Kabylie or Kabylia is a region in the north of Algeria.It is part of the Tell Atlas and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea....
 in poor conditions, which apparently cost him his job. From 1939 to 1940, he briefly wrote for a similar paper, Soir-Republicain. He was rejected by the French army because of his tuberculosis
Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacterium, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, the gastrointestinal system, bones, joints, and even the...
.

In 1940, Camus married Francine Faure
Francine Faure

Francine Faure, a noted pianist and mathematician, is perhaps best known as the second wife of Albert Camus. Together, they had twins, Catherine and Jean Camus, in 1944....
, a pianist and mathematician. Although he loved Francine, he had argued passionately against the institution of marriage, dismissing it as unnatural. Even after Francine gave birth to twins, Catherine and Jean, on 5 September 1945, he continued to joke wearily to friends that he was not cut out for marriage. Camus conducted numerous affairs, particularly an irregular and eventually public affair with the Spanish-born actress Maria Casares
María Casares

Mar?a Casares, born Maria Victoria Casares Quiroga y P?rez, was a France actress of Spain origin and one of the most distinguished stars of the French stage....
. In the same year Camus began to work for Paris-Soir
Paris-Soir

Paris-Soir was a large-circulation daily newspaper in Paris, France from 1923-1944.Its first issue came out in 4 October 1923. After June 11 1940, the same publisher, Jean Prouvost, continued its publication in Vichy France: Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon, Marseille, and Vichy while in military occupation Paris, it was published under German c...
 magazine. In the first stage of World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, the so-called Phony War
Phony War

The Phoney War, also called the Twilight War by Winston Churchill, der Sitzkrieg in German language , the Bore War and la dr?le de guerre was a phase in early World War II ? in the months following the Invasion of Poland in September 1939 and preceding the Battle of France in May 1940 ? that was marked by a la...
 stage, Camus was a pacifist
Pacifism

Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes or gaining advantage. Pacifism covers a spectrum of views ranging from the belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved; to calls for the abolition of the institutions of the military and war; to opposition to any organization of society...
. However, he was in Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
 to witness how the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
 took over. On 15 December 1941, Camus witnessed the execution of Gabriel Péri
Gabriel Péri

Gabriel P?ri was a prominent France Communism journalist and politician.He was born to a Corsican family. Forced to give up his studies at an early age, he immersed himself in political activities, and wrote for newspapers in Aix-en-Provence and Marseilles....
, an event that Camus later said crystallized his revolt against the Germans. Afterwards he moved to Bordeaux
Bordeaux

is a Port city on the Garonne in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its aire urbaine at a 2008 estimate. It is the Capital of the Aquitaine regions of France, as well as the Prefectures in France of the Gironde Departments of France....
 alongside the rest of the staff of Paris-Soir. In the same year he finished his first books, The Stranger
The Stranger (novel)

The Stranger, The Outsider, , by Albert Camus, is one of the most famous French novels of the twentieth century and is among the best literary expositions of the absurdity of human existence in an indifferent universe....
 and The Myth of Sisyphus
The Myth of Sisyphus

The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus. It comprises about 120 pages and was published originally in 1942 in French language as Le Mythe de Sisyphe; the English translation by Justin O'Brien followed in 1955....
. He returned briefly to Oran
Oran

Oran is a city on the Mediterranean Sea coast in northwestern Algeria. Oran marked the largest westernmost metropolitan area of the then Ottoman Empire....
, Algeria in 1942.

Literary career

During the war Camus joined the French Resistance
French Resistance

File:Croix de Lorraine2.svgThe French Resistance is the collective name used for the French resistance movements which fought against the Nazi Germany German occupation of France in World War II and the collaborationist Vichy Regime during World War II....
 cell Combat
Combat (newspaper)

Combat was a France newspaper created during the Second World War. Originally a clandestine newspaper of the French Resistance, it was headed by Albert Ollivier, Jean Bloch-Michel, Georges Altschuler and, most of all, Albert Camus....
, which published an underground newspaper of the same name. This group worked against the Nazis, and in it Camus assumed the nom de guerre
Pseudonym

A pseudonym, , is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name. In some cases, pseudonyms are adopted because it is part of a cultural or organizational tradition, as in the case of Religious names used by members of some religious orders and "cadre names" used by Communist party leaders such as Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin....
 "Beauchard". Camus became the paper's editor in 1943, and when the Allies liberated Paris, Camus reported on the last of the fighting. He was, however, one of the few French editors to publicly express opposition to the use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear warfares near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at the executive order of President of the United States Harry S....
 soon after the event on 8 August 1945. He eventually resigned from Combat in 1947, when it became a commercial paper. It was then that Camus became acquainted with Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre , commonly known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre , was a French existentialism philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism....
.

After the war, Camus began frequenting the Café de Flore
Café de Flore

Caf? de Flore sits on the corner of the Boulevard Saint-Germain and the Rue St. Benoit, in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, France. Historically, it has been famed for its intellectual clientele....
 on the Boulevard Saint-Germain
Boulevard Saint-Germain

The Boulevard Saint-Germain is a major street in Paris on the Rive Gauche of the Seine river. It curves in an arc from the Pont de Sully in the east to the Pont de la Concorde in the west and traverses the 5th, 6th and 7th Arrondissements of Paris....
 in Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
 with Sartre and others. Camus also toured the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 to lecture about French thinking. Although he leaned left
Left-wing politics

In politics, left-wing, leftist, and the Left are terms applied to Social progressivism and Egalitarianism positions. Originally, during the French Revolution, left-wing referred to seating arrangements in parliament; those who sat on the left opposed the monarchy and supported Political radicalism reform....
 politically, his strong criticisms of Communist
Communism

Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarianism, classlessness, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general....
 doctrine did not win him any friends in the Communist parties
Communist party

A political party described as a communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government....
 and eventually also alienated Sartre.

In 1949 his tuberculosis returned and he lived in seclusion for two years. In 1951 he published The Rebel, a philosophical analysis of rebellion and revolution which made clear his rejection of communism. The book upset many of his colleagues and contemporaries in France and led to the final split with Sartre. The dour reception depressed him and he began instead to translate plays.

Camus' first significant contribution to philosophy was his idea of the absurd, the result of our desire for clarity and meaning within a world and condition that offers neither, which he explained in The Myth of Sisyphus
The Myth of Sisyphus

The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus. It comprises about 120 pages and was published originally in 1942 in French language as Le Mythe de Sisyphe; the English translation by Justin O'Brien followed in 1955....
 and incorporated into many of his other works, such as The Stranger
The Stranger (novel)

The Stranger, The Outsider, , by Albert Camus, is one of the most famous French novels of the twentieth century and is among the best literary expositions of the absurdity of human existence in an indifferent universe....
 and The Plague
The Plague

The Plague is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947, that tells the story of medical workers finding solidarity in their labour as the Algerian city of Oran is swept by a plague epidemic....
. Despite the split from his "study partner," Sartre, some still argue that Camus falls into the existentialist camp. However, he rejected that label himself in his essay Enigma and elsewhere (see: The Lyrical and Critical Essays of Albert Camus). The current confusion may still arise, as many recent applications of existentialism have much in common with many of Camus' practical ideas (see: Resistance, Rebellion, and Death). However, the personal understanding he had of the world (e.g. "a benign indifference", in The Stranger
The Stranger (novel)

The Stranger, The Outsider, , by Albert Camus, is one of the most famous French novels of the twentieth century and is among the best literary expositions of the absurdity of human existence in an indifferent universe....
), and every vision he had for its progress (e.g. vanquishing the "adolescent furies" of history and society, in The Rebel) undoubtedly set him apart.

In the 1950s Camus devoted his efforts to human rights
Human rights

Human rights refer to the "basic rights and freedom to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of speech, and equality before the law; and social, cultural and economic rights, i...
. In 1952 he resigned from his work for UNESCO
UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945....
 when the UN accepted Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 as a member under the leadership of General Franco
Francisco Franco

Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Te?dulo Franco y Bahamonde, Salgado y Pardo de Andrade , commonly known as Francisco Franco or Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was the dictator and Head of State of Spain from October 1936, and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in 1975....
. In 1953 he criticized Soviet
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
 methods to crush a workers' strike in East Berlin
East Berlin

East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet Union Allied Occupation Zones in Germany of Berlin that was established in 1945....
. In 1956 he protested against similar methods in Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
 (protests in Poznan
Poznan

Poznan is a city in west-central Poland with over 567,882 inhabitants . Located on the Warta River, it is one of the oldest cities in Poland, making it an important historical centre and a vibrant centre of trade, industry, and education....
) and the Soviet repression of the Hungarian revolution in October.

Camus Monument in Villeblevin France 17 August 2003
He maintained his pacifism and resistance to capital punishment
Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the killing of a person by procedural law for Punishment#Retribution and Punishment#Incapacitation....
 anywhere in the world. One of his most significant contributions to the movement against capital punishment was an essay collaboration with Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler

Arthur Koestler Order of the British Empire was a Jewish-Hungary polymath author who became a naturalized United Kingdom subject....
, the writer, intellectual and founder of the League Against Capital Punishment.

Camus Monument in Villeblevin France 17 August 2003
When the Algerian War began in 1954 it presented a moral dilemma for Camus. He identified with pied-noir
Pied-noir

Pied-Noir , plural Pieds-Noirs, pronounced , is a term used to refer to colonists of Algeria until the end of the Algerian War in 1962....
s, and defended the French government on the grounds that the revolt in Algeria was really an integral part of the 'new Arab imperialism' led by Egypt and an 'anti-Western' offensive orchestrated by Russia to 'encircle Europe' and 'isolate the United States'. Although favouring greater Algerian autonomy
Self-governance

Self-governance is an abstract concept that refers to several scales of organization. It may refer to personal conduct or family units but more commonly refers to larger scale activities, i.e., professions, industry bodies, religions and political units, up to and including autonomous regions and aboriginal peoples ....
 or even federation
Federation

A federation is a Political union comprising a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the state is typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a Unilateralism decision of the central government....
, though not full-scale independence, he believed that the pied-noirs and Arabs could co-exist. During the war he advocated civil truce that would spare the civilians, which was rejected by both sides who regarded it as foolish. Behind the scenes, he began to work for imprisoned Algerians who faced the death penalty.

From 1955 to 1956 Camus wrote for L'Express
L'Express (France)

L'Express is France's first weekly news magazine. When founded in 1953 during the First Indochina War, it was modelled on the United States magazine TIME....
. In 1957 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature
Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction" ....
 "for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times.", officially not for his novel The Fall
The Fall (novel)

The Fall is a philosophical novel written by Albert Camus. First published in 1956, it is his last complete work of fiction. Set in Amsterdam, The Fall consists of a series of monologues by the self-proclaimed "judge-penitent" Jean-Baptiste Clamence, as he reflects upon his life to a stranger....
, published the previous year, but for his writings against capital punishment in the essay Réflexions sur la Guillotine. When he spoke to students at the University of Stockholm, he defended his apparent inactivity in the Algerian question and stated that he was worried about what might happen to his mother, who still lived in Algeria. This led to further ostracism by French left-wing intellectuals.

The Revolutionary Union Movement and the European Union

In 1949 Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons in the Revolutionary Union Movement. With George Orwell
George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an England author. His work is marked by a profound consciousness of social injustice, an intense dislike of totalitarianism, and a passion for clarity in language....
, he opposed totalitarian regimes in the East and the West.

As he wrote in L'Homme révolté (in the chapter about "The Thought on Midday") he was a follower of the ancient Greek 'Solar Tradition' (la pensée solaire). So, not only was he the leader of the French resistance movement "Combat," but he also set up in 1947-8 the Revolutionary Union Movement (Groupes de liaison internationale - GLI
GLI

GLI may refer to:* Great Lakes Invitational, a college hockey tournament.* Grand luxe injection, used on some automobiles. Also see GLE.* Global Learning Initiative, an international rights and licensing event especially for primary and secondary educational publishing - Bologna Children's Book Fair...
) which was formed in 1949 and can be described as a trade union movement in the context of revolutionary syndicalism (Syndicalisme révolutionnaire). For more, see the book : Alfred Rosmer et le mouvement révolutionnaire internationale by Christian Gras).

His colleagues were Nicolas Lazarévitch, Louis Mercier, Roger Lapeyre, Paul Chauvet, Auguste Largentier, Jean de Boë (see the article: "Nicolas Lazarévitch, Itinéraire d'un syndicaliste révolutionnaire" by Sylvain Boulouque in the review Communisme, n° 61, 2000). His main aim was to express the positive side of Surrealism and Existentialism, rejecting the negativity and the nihilism of André Breton
André Breton

Andr? Breton was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist, and is best known as the main founder of surrealism. His writings include the Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as pure psychic automatism....
 and Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre , commonly known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre , was a French existentialism philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism....
.

In 1944 Camus founded the "French Committee for the European Federation" (Comité Français pour la Féderation Européene -CFFE) declaring that Europe "can only evolve along the path of economic progress, democracy and peace if the nation states become a federation".

From 1943, Albert Camus had correspondence with Altiero Spinelli
Altiero Spinelli

Altiero Spinelli was an Italy political theory and a European Federalism. Spinelli is referred to as one of the "Founding Fathers of the European Union" due to his co-authorship of the Ventotene Manifesto , his founding role in the European federalist movement, his strong influence on the first few decades of post-World War II European int...
 who founded the European Federalist Movement in Milan—see Ventotene Manifesto
Ventotene Manifesto

The Ventotene Manifesto was written by Altiero Spinelli and by Ernesto Rossi while they were prisoners on the Italian island of Ventotene during World War II....
 and the book "Unire l'Europa, superare gli stati", Altiero Spinelli nel Partito d'Azione del Nord Italia e in Francia dal 1944 al 1945-annexed a letter by Altiero Spinelli to Albert Camus.

In 22-25 March 1945, the first conference of the European Federalist Movement was organised in Paris with the participation of Albert Camus, George Orwell, Emmanuel Mounier
Emmanuel Mounier

Emmanuel Mounier was a French philosopher.Mounier was the guiding spirit in the French Personalism movement, and founder and director of Esprit , the magazine which was the organ of the movement....
, Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford

Lewis Mumford was an United States historian of technology and science. Particularly noted for his study of city and urban architecture, he had a tremendously broad career as a writer that also included a period as an influential literary critic....
, André Philip, Daniel Mayer, François Bondy
François Bondy

Fran?ois Bondy was a Switzerland journalist and novelist.He worked for important Swiss and Germany newspapers and was reputed for his political commentaries....
 and Altiero Spinelli
Altiero Spinelli

Altiero Spinelli was an Italy political theory and a European Federalism. Spinelli is referred to as one of the "Founding Fathers of the European Union" due to his co-authorship of the Ventotene Manifesto , his founding role in the European federalist movement, his strong influence on the first few decades of post-World War II European int...
 (see the book "The Biography of Europe" by Pan Drakopoulos). This specific branch of the European Federalist Movement disintegrated in 1957 after the domination of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, Order of the Garter, Order of Merit, Order of the Companions of Honour, Territorial Decoration, Fellow of the Royal Society, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Queen's Privy Council for Canada was a Politics of the United Kingdom known chiefly for his leadership of the United King...
's ideas about the European integration.

Camus and Orwell


Three essays by Dr. Miho Takashima in the International Journal of Humanities ("Revolt and Equilibrium: A Comparative Study of Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a classic utopian and dystopian fiction by English author George Orwell. Published in 1949 in literature, it is set in the eponymous year and focuses on a repressive, totalitarian regime....
 and L'Homme Révolté, the Views and Struggles of Orwell and Camus", "Art and Representation: A Comparative Study of George Orwell and Albert Camus on their Literary Works", and "George Orwell and Albert Camus: A Comparative Study – Their Views and Dilemmas in the Politics of the 1930s and 40s") explore the relation between the work of the French writer Albert Camus and the English writer George Orwell
George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an England author. His work is marked by a profound consciousness of social injustice, an intense dislike of totalitarianism, and a passion for clarity in language....
.

Takashima argues that Orwell—perhaps intentionally, in order to warn the intellectual elite—compromised with "Big Brother", while Camus confronted with The Plague
The Plague

The Plague is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947, that tells the story of medical workers finding solidarity in their labour as the Algerian city of Oran is swept by a plague epidemic....
. This is observed not only in the comparison between Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a classic utopian and dystopian fiction by English author George Orwell. Published in 1949 in literature, it is set in the eponymous year and focuses on a repressive, totalitarian regime....
 and The Rebel but, especially, in Camus' play The State of Siege
The State of Siege

The State of Siege is the fourth Play by Albert Camus.Written in 1948, The State of Siege—the original sense is closer to state of emergency—is a play in three acts presenting the arrival of bubonic plague, personified by a young opportunist, in sleepy Cadiz and the subsequent creation of a totalitarian regime through...
. This theatrical play was written together with the novel The Plague and the essay The Rebel. It is the work which—according to Camus himself—represents him best and is a response to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. The hero, Diego, opposes the totalitarian dictator named Plague, and dies in order to set a Spanish town free from the Inquisition
Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile....
.

The State of Siege is a work against totalitarianism, written in the same epoch when Camus' contemporary, George Orwell, wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four. The play includes an allegorical reference to the end of Orwell's novel.

The original title of The State of Siege was The Holy Inquisition in Cadix. In the French edition of the book, Camus has included an essay under the title "Why Spain?". In this polemical text, he answers his Catholic friend Gabriel Marcel
Gabriel Marcel

Gabriel Honor? Marcel was a France philosopher, a leading Christian existentialism, and author of about 30 plays. He focused on the modern individual's struggle in a technologically dehumanizing society....
 who criticized him for setting the plot in Spain. Here Camus expresses his opposition to the totalitarian regimes of the West, and to the behavior of the Vatican
History of the Roman Catholic Church

As one the oldest branches of Christianity, with Eastern Orthodoxy, the history of the Roman Catholic Church plays an integral part of the History of Christianity as a whole....
 and the Pope
Pope Pius XII

Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as the 260th pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church and monarch of Vatican City, from March 2, 1939 until his death in 1958....
 during World War II. The most important phrase of this essay is "Why Guernica
Bombing of Guernica

The bombing of Guernica was an Aerial bombing of cities on the Basque Country town of Guernica , causing widespread destruction and civilian deaths during the Spanish Civil War....
, Gabriel Marcel?".

Death


Camus died on 4 January 1960 in an automobile accident near Sens
Sens

Sens is a town and communes of France of France, in the Yonne Departments of France, of which it is a sous-pr?fecture, in the Bourgogne Regions of France....
, in a place named "Le Grand Fossard" in the small town of Villeblevin. In his coat pocket lay an unused train ticket. It is possible that he had planned to travel by train, but decided to go by car instead.
20041113 002 Lourmarin Tombstone Albert Camus
The driver of the Facel Vega
Facel Vega

Facel Vega was a France builder of luxury automobile. Their advertising slogan was "For the Few Who Own the Finest".The brand was created by Jean Daninos, ....
 car, Michel Gallimard — his publisher and close friend — was also killed in the accident. Camus was interred in the Lourmarin Cemetery, Lourmarin
Lourmarin

Lourmarin is a town and commune in France of the Vaucluse d?partement in France, in southern France....
, Vaucluse
Vaucluse

The Vaucluse is a departments of France in the southeast of France, named after the famous spring, the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse....
, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Provence-Alpes-C?te d'Azur is one of the 26 Regions of France of France. It is made up of:*the former French Provinces of France of Provence...
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
.

He was survived by his twin children, Catherine and Jean, who hold the copyrights to his work.

Two of Camus' works were published posthumously. The first, entitled A Happy Death
A Happy Death

A Happy Death was the first novel by French writer-philosopher Albert Camus. The existentialism topic of the book is the "will to happiness," the conscious creation of one's happiness, and the need of time to do so....
 published in 1970, featured a character named Meursault, as in The Stranger
The Stranger (novel)

The Stranger, The Outsider, , by Albert Camus, is one of the most famous French novels of the twentieth century and is among the best literary expositions of the absurdity of human existence in an indifferent universe....
, but there is some debate as to the relationship between the two stories. The second posthumous publication was an unfinished novel, The First Man
The First Man

The First Man is Albert Camus' unfinished work final novel.On January 4, 1960, at the age of forty-six, Camus was killed in a car accident outside Paris....
, that Camus was writing before he died. The novel was an autobiographical work about his childhood in Algeria
Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
 and was published in 1995.

Summary of Absurdism

Many writers have written on the Absurd, each with his or her own interpretation of what the Absurd actually is and their own ideas on the importance of the Absurd. For example, Sartre recognizes the absurdity of individual experience, while Kierkegaard explains that the absurdity of certain religious truths prevent us from reaching God rationally. Camus was not the originator of Absurdism
Absurdism

Absurdism is a philosophy stating that the efforts of human race to find meaning in the universe ultimately fail , because no such meaning exists, at least in relation to humanity....
 and regretted the continued reference to him as a philosopher of the absurd. He shows less and less interest in the Absurd shortly after publishing Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus)
The Myth of Sisyphus

The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus. It comprises about 120 pages and was published originally in 1942 in French language as Le Mythe de Sisyphe; the English translation by Justin O'Brien followed in 1955....
. To distinguish Camus' ideas of the Absurd from those of other philosophers, people sometimes refer to the Paradox of the Absurd, when referring to Camus' Absurd.

His early thoughts on the Absurd appeared in his first collection of essays, L'Envers et l'endroit (The Two Sides Of The Coin) in 1937. Absurd themes appeared with more sophistication in his second collection of essays, Noces (Nuptials), in 1938. In these essays Camus does not offer a philosophical account of the Absurd, or even a definition; rather he reflects on the experience of the Absurd. In 1942 he published the story of a man living an Absurd life as L'Étranger (The Stranger)
The Stranger (novel)

The Stranger, The Outsider, , by Albert Camus, is one of the most famous French novels of the twentieth century and is among the best literary expositions of the absurdity of human existence in an indifferent universe....
, and in the same year released Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus)
The Myth of Sisyphus

The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus. It comprises about 120 pages and was published originally in 1942 in French language as Le Mythe de Sisyphe; the English translation by Justin O'Brien followed in 1955....
, a literary essay on the Absurd. He had also written a play about a Roman Emperor, Caligula
Caligula

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , more commonly known by his nickname Caligula , was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41....
, pursuing an Absurd logic. However, the play was not performed until 1945. The turning point in Camus' attitude to the Absurd occurs in a collection of four letters to an anonymous German friend, written between July 1943 and July 1944. The first was published in the Revue Libre in 1943, the second in the Cahiers de Libération in 1944, and the third in the newspaper Libertés, in 1945. All four letters have been published as Lettres à un ami allemand (Letters to a German Friend) in 1945, and have appeared in the collection Resistance, Rebellion, and Death
Resistance, Rebellion, and Death

Resistance, Rebellion, and Death is a 1960 in literature of essays written by Albert Camus and selected by the author prior to his death. The essays here generally involve conflicts near the Mediterranean Sea, with an emphasis on his home country Algeria, and on the Algerian War of Independence in particular....
.

Camus' ideas on the Absurd

In his essays Camus presented the reader with dualisms: happiness and sadness, dark and light, life and death, etc. His aim was to emphasize the fact that happiness is fleeting and that the human condition is one of mortality. He did this not to be morbid, but to reflect a greater appreciation for life and happiness. In Le Mythe, this dualism becomes a paradox: We value our lives and existence so greatly, but at the same time we know we will eventually die, and ultimately our endeavours are meaningless. While we can live with a dualism (I can accept periods of unhappiness, because I know I will also experience happiness to come), we cannot live with the paradox (I think my life is of great importance, but I also think it is meaningless). In Le Mythe, Camus was interested in how we experience the Absurd and how we live with it. Our life must have meaning for us to value it. If we accept that life has no meaning and therefore no value, should we kill ourselves?

Meursault, the Absurdist hero of L'Étranger, is a murderer who is executed for his crime. Caligula ends up admitting his Absurd logic was wrong and is killed by an assassination he has deliberately brought about. However, while Camus possibly suggests that Caligula's Absurd reasoning is wrong, the play's anti-hero does get the last word, as the author similarly exalts Meursault's final moments.

Camus' understanding of the Absurd promotes public debate; his various offerings entice us to think about the Absurd and offer our own contribution. Concepts such as cooperation, joint effort and solidarity are of key importance to Camus.

Camus made a significant contribution to a viewpoint of the Absurd, and always rejected nihilism
Nihilism

Nihilism is the philosophy position that value_theory do not exist but rather are falsely invented. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of Nihilism#Existential_nihilism which argues that life is without meaning, purpose or intrinsic value ....
 as a valid response.
"If nothing had any meaning, you would be right. But there is something that still has a meaning." Second Letter to a German Friend, December 1943.


What still had meaning for Camus is that despite humans being subjects in an indifferent and "absurd
Absurdism

Absurdism is a philosophy stating that the efforts of human race to find meaning in the universe ultimately fail , because no such meaning exists, at least in relation to humanity....
" universe, in which meaning is challenged by the fact that we all die, meaning can be created, however provisionally and unstably, by our own decisions and interpretations.

Opposition to totalitarianism

Throughout his life, Camus spoke out against and actively opposed totalitarianism in its many forms. Early on, Camus was active within the French Resistance
French Resistance

File:Croix de Lorraine2.svgThe French Resistance is the collective name used for the French resistance movements which fought against the Nazi Germany German occupation of France in World War II and the collaborationist Vichy Regime during World War II....
 to the German occupation of France during World War II, even directing the famous Resistance journal, Combat. On the French collaboration with Nazi occupiers he wrote:
Now the only moral value is courage, which is useful here for judging the puppets and chatterboxes who pretend to speak in the name of the people


Camus' well-known falling out with Sartre is linked to this opposition to totalitarianism
Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is a concept used to describe political systems whereby a state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private life. Totalitarian regimes or movements maintain themselves in political power by means of an official all-embracing ideology and propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, single-party st...
. Camus detected a reflexive totalitarianism
Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is a concept used to describe political systems whereby a state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private life. Totalitarian regimes or movements maintain themselves in political power by means of an official all-embracing ideology and propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, single-party st...
 in the mass politics
Mass politics

Mass politics is a political order resting on the emergence of mass political party.The emergence of mass politics is generally associated with the rise of mass society coinciding with the Industrial Revolution in the West around the time of President Andrew Jackson....
 espoused by Sartre in the name of radical Marxism
Marxism

Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism holds at its core a Marxist analysis of Critique of capitalism and a theory of social change....
. This was apparent in his work L'Homme Révolté (The Rebel) which not only was an assault on the Soviet police state, but also questioned the very nature of mass revolutionary politics. Camus continued to speak out against the atrocities of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
, a sentiment captured in his 1957 speech, The Blood of the Hungarians
The Blood of the Hungarians

The Blood of the Hungarians is an open letter to pay tribute to the fallen of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 on its first anniversary published by Albert Camus on October 23, 1957....
, commemorating the anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
1956 Hungarian Revolution

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the People's Republic of Hungary of Hungary and its Soviet Union-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956....
, an uprising crushed in a bloody assault by the Red Army.

Camus and solidarity


Solidarity in The Stranger

In The Stranger
The Stranger (novel)

The Stranger, The Outsider, , by Albert Camus, is one of the most famous French novels of the twentieth century and is among the best literary expositions of the absurdity of human existence in an indifferent universe....
, Albert Camus characterizes his justification of the absurd through the experiences of a protagonist who simply does not conform to the system. His inherent honesty disturbs the status quo; Meursault's inability to lie cannot seamlessly integrate him within society and in turn threatens the simple fabrics of human mannerisms expected of a structurally ordered society. Consequently, the punishment for his crime is not decided on the basis of murder, but rather for the startling indifference towards his mother's recent death. Even after a conflicting spiritual discussion with a pastor inciting Meursault to consider a possible path towards redemption, the latter still refuses to take upon salvation and symbolizes his ultimatum by embracing the "gentle indifference of the world"; an act which only furthers his solidarity with a society incapable of realizing his seemingly inhumane and misanthropic behavior.



Solidarity in The Plague

The plague is an undeniable part of life. As posited in The Plague, it is omnipresent, just like death was always an impeding factor in The Stranger. Albert Camus once again questions the meaning of the moral concepts justifying humanity and human suffering within a religious framework. For Camus, the rationale behind Christian doctrine is useless; as mortal beings, we cannot successfully rationalize the impending and inescapable death sentence forced upon every human. The plague, which befalls Oran, is a concrete and tangible facilitator of death. Ultimately, the plague enables people to understand that their individual suffering is meaningless. As the epidemic "evolves" within the seasons, so do the citizens of Oran, who instead of willfully giving up to a disease they have no control over, decide to fight against their impending death, thus unwillingly creating optimism in the midst of hopelessness. This is where Camus channels his thoughts behind the importance of solidarity: although the plague is still primarily an agent of death, it provides the uncanny opportunity for people to realize that individual suffering is absurd. In the midst of complete suffering, the challenging response adopted by the majority of the citizens of Oran demonstrates an inexplicable humanistic connection between distraught and distant characters. Only by taking the choice to fight an irreversible epidemic are people able to create the ever-lacking meaning to a life destined for execution the moment of its creation.

Camus and football


Camus was once asked by his friend Charles Poncet which he preferred, football or the theatre. Camus is said to have replied, "Football, without hesitation."

Camus played as goalkeeper for Racing Universitaire Algerois (RUA won both the North African Champions Cup
North African Champions Cup

The North African Champions Cup was a football competition involving the then French territories of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.It was played between the champions of the Tunisian and Moroccan leagues and the 3 Algerian regional leagues....
 and the North African Cup
North African Cup

The North African Cup was a football competition involving the then France territories of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia from 1930 to 1956. The tournament was contested between the clubs of five leagues, with Morocco and Tunisia contributing one league each, and Algeria contributing leagues from the districts of Alger, Constantine, Algeria and...
 twice each in the 1930s) junior team from 1928–30. The sense of team spirit, fraternity, and common purpose appealed to Camus enormously. In match reports Camus would often attract positive comment for playing with passion and courage. Any aspirations in football disappeared at age 17, upon contracting tuberculosis—then incurable, Camus was bedridden for long and painful periods.

When Camus was asked in the 1950s by an alumni sports magazine for a few words regarding his time with the RUA, his response included the following:

After many years during which I saw many things, what I know most surely about morality and the duty of man I owe to sport and learned it in the RUA.


Camus was referring to a sort of simplistic morality he wrote about in his early essays, the principle of sticking up for your friends, of valuing bravery and fair-play. Camus' belief was that political and religious authorities try to confuse us with over-complicated moral systems to make things appear more complex than they really are, potentially to serve their own needs.

Bibliography


Novels

  • The Stranger
    The Stranger (novel)

    The Stranger, The Outsider, , by Albert Camus, is one of the most famous French novels of the twentieth century and is among the best literary expositions of the absurdity of human existence in an indifferent universe....
     (L'Étranger, often translated as The Outsider) (1942)
  • The Plague
    The Plague

    The Plague is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947, that tells the story of medical workers finding solidarity in their labour as the Algerian city of Oran is swept by a plague epidemic....
     (La Peste) (1947)
  • The Fall
    The Fall (novel)

    The Fall is a philosophical novel written by Albert Camus. First published in 1956, it is his last complete work of fiction. Set in Amsterdam, The Fall consists of a series of monologues by the self-proclaimed "judge-penitent" Jean-Baptiste Clamence, as he reflects upon his life to a stranger....
     (La Chute) (1956)
  • A Happy Death
    A Happy Death

    A Happy Death was the first novel by French writer-philosopher Albert Camus. The existentialism topic of the book is the "will to happiness," the conscious creation of one's happiness, and the need of time to do so....
     (La Mort heureuse) (written 1936-1938, published posthumously 1971)
  • The First Man
    The First Man

    The First Man is Albert Camus' unfinished work final novel.On January 4, 1960, at the age of forty-six, Camus was killed in a car accident outside Paris....
     (Le premier homme) (incomplete, published posthumously 1995)


Short stories

  • Exile and the Kingdom
    Exile and the Kingdom

    Exile and the Kingdom is a 1957 collection of six short stories by France-Algerian writer Albert Camus.These works of fiction cover the whole variety of existentialism, or absurdism, as Camus himself insisted his philosophical ideas be called....
     (L'exil et le royaume) (collection) (1957)
    • "The Adulterous Woman
      The Adulterous Woman

      The Adulterous Woman is a short story written in 1957. It is the first short story published in the volume Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus....
      " ("La Femme adultère")
    • "The Renegade or a Confused Spirit
      The Renegade (Camus short story)

      The Renegade is a short story written in 1957. It is the second short story published in the volume Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus....
      " ("Le Renégat ou un esprit confus")
    • "The Silent Men
      The Silent Men

      The Silent Men is a short story written in 1957. It is the third short story published in the volume Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus....
      " ("Les Muets")
    • "The Guest
      The Guest

      "The Guest" is a short story by the French writer Albert Camus. It was first published in 1957 as part of a collection entitled Exile and the Kingdom ....
      " ("L'Hôte")
    • "Jonas or the Artist at Work
      The Artist at Work

      "The Artist at Work" is a short story by the French writer Albert Camus from Exile and the Kingdom ....
      " ("Jonas ou l’artiste au travail")
    • "The Growing Stone
      The Growing Stone

      "The Growing Stone" is a short story by the French writer Albert Camus. It is the final short story in the collection Exile and the Kingdom....
      " ("La Pierre qui pousse")


Non-fiction

  • Betwixt and Between
    Betwixt and Between

    Betwixt and Between is a work of non-fiction by Albert Camus....
     (L'envers et l'endroit, also translated as The Wrong Side and the Right Side) (Collection, 1937)
  • Nuptials (Noces) (1938)
  • The Myth of Sisyphus
    The Myth of Sisyphus

    The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus. It comprises about 120 pages and was published originally in 1942 in French language as Le Mythe de Sisyphe; the English translation by Justin O'Brien followed in 1955....
     (Le Mythe de Sisyphe) (1942)
  • The Rebel (L'Homme révolté) (1951)
  • Notebooks 1935-1942 (Carnets, mai 1935 — fevrier 1942) (1962)
  • Notebooks 1943-1951 (1965)
  • Notebooks 1951-1959 (2008) Published as "Carnets Tome III : Mars 1951-December 1959" (1989)


Essays

  • Create Dangerously (Essay on Realism and Artistic Creation) (1957)
  • The Ancient Greek Tragedy (Parnassos lecture in Greece) (1956)
  • The Crisis of Man (Lecture at Columbia University) (1946)
  • Why Spain? (Essay for the theatrical play L' Etat de Siege) (1948)
  • Reflections on the Guillotine
    Reflections on the Guillotine

    "Reflections on the Guillotine" is an extended Essay written in 1957 by Albert_Camus. In the essay Camus takes an uncompromising position for the abolition of the Death_penalty....
     (Réflexions sur la guillotine) (Extended essay, 1957)
  • Neither Victims Nor Executioners
    Neither Victims Nor Executioners

    Neither Victims Nor Executioners was a series of essays by Albert Camus that were serialized in Combat , the daily newspaper of the French Resistance, in November 1946....
     (Combat) (1946)


Plays

  • Caligula
    Caligula (play)

    Caligula is a play written by Albert Camus, begun in 1938 and published for the first time in May 1944 by ?ditions Gallimard. The play was later the subject of numerous revisions....
     (performed 1945, written 1938)
  • Requiem for a Nun (Requiem pour une nonne, adapted from William Faulkner
    William Faulkner

    William Faulkner was a Nobel Prize in Literature-winning United States author. One of the most influential writers of the 20th century, his reputation is based on his novels, novellas and short story....
    's novel by the same name
    Requiem for a Nun

    Requiem for a Nun is a book written by William Faulkner in 1951. Like many of Faulkner's works, Requiem experiments with narrative technique - the book is part novel, part play....
    ) (1956)
  • The Misunderstanding
    The Misunderstanding

    The Misunderstanding , sometimes published as Cross Purpose, is a play written in 1943 in occupied Paris by Albert Camus....
     (Le Malentendu) (1944)
  • The State of Siege
    The State of Siege

    The State of Siege is the fourth Play by Albert Camus.Written in 1948, The State of Siege—the original sense is closer to state of emergency—is a play in three acts presenting the arrival of bubonic plague, personified by a young opportunist, in sleepy Cadiz and the subsequent creation of a totalitarian regime through...
     L' Etat de Siege (1948)
  • The Just Assassins
    The Just Assassins

    The Just Assassins is a 1949 play by France writer and philosopher Albert Camus.The play is based on the true story of a group of Russian Socialist-Revolutionary Party who assassinated the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia in 1905, and explores the moral issues associated with murder and terrorism....
     (Les Justes) (1949)
  • The Possessed
    The Possessed (play)

    The Possessed is a play written by Albert Camus in 1959. The piece is a theatrical adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Possessed ....
     (Les Possédés, adapted from Dostoyevsky's novel by the same name) (1959)


Collections

  • Resistance, Rebellion, and Death
    Resistance, Rebellion, and Death

    Resistance, Rebellion, and Death is a 1960 in literature of essays written by Albert Camus and selected by the author prior to his death. The essays here generally involve conflicts near the Mediterranean Sea, with an emphasis on his home country Algeria, and on the Algerian War of Independence in particular....
     (1961) - a collection of essays selected by the author.
  • Lyrical and Critical Essays (1970)
  • Youthful Writings (1976)
  • Between Hell and Reason: Essays from the Resistance Newspaper "Combat", 1944-1947 (1991)
  • Camus at "Combat": Writing 1944-1947 (2005)


Cultural influences


Film

Several of Camus' works have been adapted into movies. The Stranger has been adapted into an Italian 1967 movie by Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti

Luchino House of Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo was an Italian theatre director and film director and writer, best known for films such as The Leopard and Death in Venice ....
, and also to a 2001 Turkish adaptation titled Yazgi (Fate) by Zeki Demirkubuz
Zeki Demirkubuz

Zeki Demirkubuz is a contemporary Turkish people film director, screenwriter, film producer and film editor....
. The Plague was adapted to a 1992 film titled La Peste by Luis Puenzo
Luis Puenzo

Luis Adalberto Puezo is a film director, Film producer and screenplay writer.He works mainly in the cinema of Argentina, but has worked in the United States....
 and set in modern day America.

Music

Quite a few musical artists refer to Camus and his work in their music. The post-punk
Post-punk

Post-punk was a popular musical movement with its roots in the mid to late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the early 1970s....
 band The Fall took their name from Camus' novel The Fall
The Fall (novel)

The Fall is a philosophical novel written by Albert Camus. First published in 1956, it is his last complete work of fiction. Set in Amsterdam, The Fall consists of a series of monologues by the self-proclaimed "judge-penitent" Jean-Baptiste Clamence, as he reflects upon his life to a stranger....
. These also include an album by Jeff Martin
Jeff Martin (Canadian musician)

Jeffrey Scott Martin is a Canada guitarist and singer-songwriter best known for fronting the rock band The Tea Party. Martin began his career as a solo artist in October 2005, when The Tea Party disbanded....
 (Exile and the Kingdom
Exile and the Kingdom (album)

Exile and the Kingdom is the debut solo album from Canadian singer/songwriter Jeff Martin . The title is derived from the 1957 book of the same name by Albert Camus....
, 2006) and songs by Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant

Gentle Giant was a United Kingdom progressive rock band , one of the most experimental of the 1970s. Textually inspired by philosophy, personal events and the works of Fran?ois Rabelais, the group was noted for their collective multi-instrumental virtuosity and the particular complexity and sophistication of their musical material ....
 ("A Cry for Everyone
Octopus (album)

Octopus is an album by United Kingdom progressive rock band Gentle Giant, released in 1972. It marked a change in drummers from Malcolm Mortimore to John Weathers....
", 1972), The Cure
The Cure

The Cure are an English Rock music band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several lineup changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member....
 ("Killing an Arab
Killing an Arab

"Killing an Arab" was the first single by The Cure. It was recorded at the same time as their first LP in the UK, Three Imaginary Boys but not included on the album....
", 1978), Tuxedomoon
Tuxedomoon

Tuxedomoon is an Experimental music Post-punk/New Wave music group formed in San Francisco, California, California consisting of core members Blaine L....
 ("The Stranger", 1979), Digable Planets
Digable Planets

Digable Planets is a Grammy Award-winning United States of America alternative hip hop group based in New York City, composed of Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler , Craig "Doodlebug" Irving , and Mary Ann "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira ....
 ("Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)
Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)

Reachin is the debut album by Alternative hip hop Hip hop music group Digable Planets. It was released on September 27, 1993 by Pendulum Records and Elektra Records....
", 1993) The Magnetic Fields
The Magnetic Fields

The Magnetic Fields is a band led by singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt. Albums released by Merritt under the name "Magnetic Fields" often make extensive use of synthesizers underlying clever lyrics, often about love, that are by turns ironic, bitter, and humorous....
 ("I Don't Want To Get Over You
69 Love Songs

69 Love Songs is a three-volume concept album by The Magnetic Fields. As its title indicates, the album is composed of 69 love songs, all written by Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt....
", 1999), The Manic Street Preachers ("The Masses Against The Classes
The Masses Against The Classes

"The Masses Against the Classes" is a song by Manic Street Preachers, released as a limited-edition single in November 1999.The single reached number one in the United Kingdom record chart on January 16, 2000 without any promotion by the band; it was their second #1 single joining "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" ....
", 2000), JJ72
JJ72

JJ72 were an indie rock band from Dublin, Republic of Ireland....
 ("Algeria
JJ72 (album)

JJ72 is the self-titled debut album by Dublin indie-rock trio JJ72. It was released on August 28, 2000....
", 2000), Suede
Suede (band)

Suede were an English alternative rock band of the 1990s and the early 2000s that helped start the Britpop musical movement. Through their several incarnations, they were able to consistently put out albums that charted well, while still holding the respect of critics....
 ("Obsessions
Obsessions

"Obsessions" is the second single off the album A New Morning by Suede , released on November 18, 2002 on Columbia Records. Though the single was another disappointment on the charts, the title track is considered a favorite from this era among fans....
", 2002), Streetlight Manifesto
Streetlight Manifesto

Streetlight Manifesto is an American ska punk band from East Brunswick Township, New Jersey under the creative leadership of Tomas Kalnoky.They released their first album, Everything Goes Numb, which was distributed by Victory Records, on August 26, 2003....
 ("Here's To Life
Everything Goes Numb

Everything Goes Numb is the first full length album by musical group Streetlight Manifesto. It is seen as a natural progression from Catch 22 's Keasbey Nights , as Tomas Kalnoky, the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter, performed the same duties in Catch 22 before leaving after Keasbey Nights to concentrate on his college educ...
", 2003), A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle

A Perfect Circle is an alternative rock Supergroup formed by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan. The original incarnation of the band also included Paz Lenchantin on bass, Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar, and Tim Alexander on drums....
 ("A Stranger
Thirteenth Step

Thirteenth Step is the second studio album by the United States rock and roll band A Perfect Circle. The album was released as a compact disc on September 16, 2003....
" and "The Outsider
The Outsider (A Perfect Circle song)

The Outsider" is a song from A Perfect Circle's second album, Thirteenth Step. It uses a mix of 6/8 and 4/4 time signatures. Two remixes of "The Outsider" were made for aMOTION....
", 2003), Angela McCluskey ("Know it All", 2004), Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom

Joanna Newsom is an United States harpist and singer-songwriter from Nevada City, California....
 ("This Side of the Blue
The Milk-Eyed Mender

The Milk-Eyed Mender is the debut album by United States singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom, released on March 23, 2004 on the Drag City record label ....
", 2004), Tarkio
Tarkio (band)

Tarkio was the former band of Colin Meloy prior to his forming The Decemberists. An alternative country band from Missoula, Montana, Tarkio separated in 1999, but found new popularity in a retrospective released by Kill Rock Stars in 2006....
 ("Neapolitan Bridesmaid
Omnibus (album)

Omnibus is a 2006 compilation of songs from the Montana band Tarkio....
", 2006), The Independence, ("20-Ought-Almost-Talkin' Blues", 2008), Drought ("To the Benign Indifference of the Universe", 2008), Titus Andronicus' "Albert Camus"

Anti-folk
Anti-folk

The Music genre known as anti-folk takes the earnestness of politically charged 1960s music and subverts it. The defining characteristics of this sub-genre are hard to pin down, as they vary from one artist to the next....
 singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter

File:Joan Baez Bob Dylan crop.jpgSinger-songwriter is a term that refers to performers who Lyricist, composer and singing their own Musical piece including lyrics and melody....
 Jeffrey Lewis
Jeffrey Lewis

Jeffrey Lewis is an American anti-folk singer/songwriter and comic book artist. He attended State University of New York at Purchase and graduated in 1997 with a degree in Literature; his Senior Literary Thesis was on the comic book Watchmen, and was awarded third best Liberal Arts thesis paper of his graduation year....
 references Camus, as well as Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg

Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an United States poet. Ginsberg is best known for the poem "Howl" , celebrating his friends who were members of the Beat Generation and attacking what he saw as the destructive forces of materialism and conformity in the United States....
, in a 2005 song, "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" in the line, "And I'm sure the thing is probably Dylan himself too, stayed up some nights wishing he was as good as Ginsberg or Camus."

Further reading

  • Camus (1959) by Germaine Brée (ISBN 1-122-01570-4)
  • Camus (1966) by Adele King (ISBN 0-050-01423-4)
  • Camus: vida e obra (1970) by Vicente de Paulo Barretto.
  • Albert Camus: A Biography (1997) by Herbert R. Lottman (ISBN 3-927258-06-7)
  • Albert Camus and the Minister (2000) by Howard E. Mumma (ISBN 1-55725-246-7)
  • Albert Camus, The Artist in the Arena (1965) by Emmett Parker
  • Albert Camus, A Study of His Work (1957) by Philip Malcolm Waller Thody
  • Albert Camus: A Life (2000) by Olivier Todd (ISBN 0-7867-0739-9)
  • Albert Camus: Kunst und Moral by Heiner Wittmann (ISBN 3-631-39525-6)
  • Ethics and Creativity in the Political thought of Simone Weil and Albert Camus 2004 by Dr. John Randolph LeBlanc (ISBN 978-0-7734-6567-1)
  • The Mandarins
    The Mandarins

    The Mandarins is a 1954 in literature roman-?-clef by Simone de Beauvoir. The novel is perhaps de Beauvoir's most celebrated, and in 1954 it won her the Prix Goncourt....
     by Simone de Beauvoir
    Simone de Beauvoir

    Simone de Beauvoir was a France author and philosopher. She wrote novels, monographs on philosophy, politics, and social issues, essays, biographies, and an autobiography in several volumes....
     (1954) Winner of the 1954 Goncourt Prize; Camus himself states that he is "the hero" of the book in his Notebooks 1951-1959.


External links

  • : The Fall (La Chute, 1956)