Albert Camus explored the meaning of life while smoking Gauloises and looking like a movie star. This French-Algerian writer defined a generation with his cool detachment and intense philosophy. Furthermore, he lived a life full of contradictions, balancing football with intellectual debates. Consequently, he remains a hero for rebels and thinkers alike. Explore the fascinating details about the man who taught us to imagine Sisyphus happy.
Albert Camus
Albert Camus originally planned to become a professional soccer player. He played goalkeeper for his university team until tuberculosis forced him to quit permanently.
Tragically, police found an unused train ticket to Paris in his pocket when he died. He had planned to take the train but decided to drive with a friend at the last minute.
He famously rejected the label “existentialist” throughout his entire career. Instead, he preferred to identify his philosophy as “absurdist” or simply humanistic.
He worked for the French Resistance during World War II as an editor. Specifically, he ran the underground newspaper Combat, risking his life to publish anti-Nazi news.
He holds the record as the second-youngest person to ever win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He received the prestigious award at age 44, just three years before his death.
Surprisingly, he dedicated his Nobel Prize acceptance speech to his elementary school teacher. He believed Louis Germain saved him from a life of poverty in Algeria.
He once said that dying in a car crash was the most “absurd way to die.” Sadly, this turned out to be exactly how his life ended decades later.
His friendship with Jean-Paul Sartre ended in a bitter public feud. They stopped speaking because they disagreed sharply on the morality of Soviet communism.
Before he became famous, he worked several strange odd jobs to survive. For example, he cataloged weather data for the Meteorological Institute in Algiers.
His most famous book, The Stranger, opens with one of literature’s most memorable lines. “Maman died today” sets the tone for the entire masterpiece immediately.
He was born into extreme poverty and did not know his father. His father died in World War I when Albert was barely a year old.
He joined the French Communist Party in his youth but did not stay long. The party eventually expelled him because he supported individual rights over strict party loyalty.
He loved the theater just as much as he loved writing novels. In fact, he founded his own theater company and often acted in the plays himself.
His tuberculosis condition saved him from serving in the army during the war. The military rejected him on medical grounds despite his desire to join the fight.
Finally, he named his favorite cat “Cigarette” because he loved smoking so much. He was rarely seen in photos without a cigarette dangling from his lips.
