Years of life: from 07.11.1913 to 04.01.1960
French writer and philosopher, existentialist, laureate Nobel Prize on literature.
Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 in Algeria, on the San Pol farm near the town of Mondovi. When the writer's father died in the Battle of the Marne at the beginning of the First World War, his mother moved with the children to the city of Algiers.
In Algeria, after graduating from primary school, Camus studied at the lyceum, where he was forced to interrupt his studies for a year in 1930 due to tuberculosis.
In 1932-1937 studied at the University of Algiers, where he studied philosophy. On the advice of Grenier at the university, Camus began keeping diaries and writing essays, influenced by the philosophy of Dostoevsky and Nietzsche. During his senior years at the university, he became interested in socialist ideas and in the spring of 1935 joined the French Communist Party and conducts propaganda activities among Muslims. He was a member of the local cell of the French Communist Party for more than a year, until he was expelled for connections with the Algerian People's Party, accusing him of “Trotskyism.”
In 1937, Camus graduated from the university, defending thesis in philosophy on the topic "Christian metaphysics and Neoplatonism." Camus wanted to continue his academic activities, but due to health reasons he was denied postgraduate studies, for the same reason he was later not drafted into the army.
After graduating from university, Camus briefly headed the Algiers House of Culture and then headed some left-wing opposition newspapers that were closed by military censorship after the outbreak of World War II. During these years, Camus wrote a lot, mainly essays and journalistic materials. In January 1939, the first version of the play “Caligula” was written.
Having lost his job as an editor, Camus moved with his wife to Oran, where they made a living by giving private lessons, and at the beginning of the war he moved to Paris.
In May 1940, Camus completed work on the novel The Stranger. In December, Camus, not wanting to live in an occupied country, returned to Oran, where he taught French at a private school. In February 1941, The Myth of Sisyphus was completed.
Soon Camus joined the ranks of the Resistance Movement, became a member of the underground organization Combat, and returned to Paris.
In 1943, he met and participated in productions of his plays (in particular, it was Camus who first uttered the phrase “Hell is others” from the stage).
After the end of the war, Camus continued to work at Combat; his previously written works were published, which brought the writer popularity, but in 1947 his gradual break with the leftist movement and personally with Sartre began. As a result, Camus leaves Combe and becomes an independent journalist - he writes journalistic articles for various publications (later published in three collections called “Topical Notes”).
In the fifties, Camus gradually abandoned his socialist ideas, condemned the policies of Stalinism and the connivance of the French socialists towards this, which led to an even greater break with his former comrades and, in particular, with Sartre.
At this time, Camus became increasingly interested in theater; in 1954, the writer began staging plays based on his own dramatizations, and negotiated the opening of the Experimental Theater in Paris. In 1956, Camus wrote the story “The Fall,” and the following year a collection of short stories, “Exile and the Kingdom,” was published.
In 1957, Camus received the Nobel Prize for Literature. In his acceptance speech, he said that he was “too firmly chained to the galley of his time not to row with others, even though he believed that the galley stank of herring, that it had too many overseers and that, above all, the wrong course had been taken.” In the last years of his life, Camus wrote practically nothing.
On January 4, 1960, Albert Camus died in a car accident while returning from Provence to Paris. The writer died instantly. The writer's death occurred at approximately 13:54. Michel Gallimard, who was also in the car, died in hospital two days later, but the writer's wife and daughter survived. . Albert Camus was buried in the town of Lourmarin in the Luberon region in southern France. In November 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed transferring the writer's ashes to the Pantheon.
In 1936, Camus created an amateur " People's Theater", organized, in particular, a production of The Brothers Karamazov based on Dostoevsky, where he himself played Ivan Karamazov.
Writer's Awards
1957 - in literature “For his enormous contribution to literature, highlighting the importance of human conscience”
Bibliography
(1937)
(1939)
(1942)
(1942)
(1944]early edition – 1941)
Misunderstanding (1944)
(1947)
State of Siege (1948)
Letters to a German Friend (1948) under the pseudonym Louis Nieuville)
The Righteous (1949)
Topical Notes, Book 1 (1950)
(1951)
Topical Notes, Book 2 (1953)
Summer (1954)
(1956)
Requiem for a Nun (1956) adaptation of the novel by William Faulkner)
Exile and Kingdom (1957)
(1957)
Topical Notes, Book 3 (1958)
Demons (1958) adaptation of the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky)
Diaries, May 1935 - February 1942
Diaries, January 1942 - March 1951
Diaries, March 1951 - December 1959
Happy death (1936-1938)
Film adaptations of works, theatrical productions
1967 - The Outsider (Italy, L. Visconti)
1992 - Plague
1997 - Caligula
2001 - Fate (based on the novel "The Outsider", Türkiye)
Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 in Algeria into a fairly simple family. Father, Lucien Camus, was the caretaker of a wine cellar. He died during the war; at that time, Albert was not even a year old. Mother, Catherine Santes, was an illiterate woman and after the death of her husband she was forced to move in with relatives and become a servant in order to somehow provide for the family.
Childhood and youth
Despite an extremely difficult childhood, Albert grew up as an open, kind child, capable of feeling and loving nature.
He graduated with honors primary school and continued his studies at the Algiers Lyceum, where he became interested in the works of such authors as M. Proust, F. Nietzsche, A. Malraux. F.M. also read with enthusiasm. Dostoevsky.
During his studies, a significant meeting took place with the philosopher Jean Grenier, who later influenced the development of Camus as a writer. Thanks to a new acquaintance, Camus discovers religious existentialism and shows interest in philosophy.
The beginning of his creative path and famous sayings of Camus
1932 is associated with entering the university. At this time, the first publications of notes and essays appeared, in which the influence of Proust, Dostoevsky, and Nietzsche was clearly visible. This is how it begins creative path one of the most famous writers XX century. In 1937, a collection of philosophical reflections was published "Inside and Face", in which lyrical hero seeks to hide from the chaos of existence and find peace in the wisdom of nature.
1938 to 1944 are conventionally considered the first period in the writer’s work. Camus works for the underground newspaper Combat, which he himself headed after liberation from the German occupation. Dramas are released at this time "Caligula"(1944), story "Stranger"(1942). The book ends this period "The Myth of Sisyphus".
“All people in the world are chosen ones. There are no others. Sooner or later everyone will be convicted and sentenced.”
“I often thought: if I were forced to live in the trunk of a dried-up tree, and could do nothing at all except watch the sky bloom overhead, I would gradually get used to it.”
"The Stranger", 1942 - Albert Camus, quote"Any man of sense, one way or another, has ever wished death on those he loves.”
"The Stranger", 1942 - Albert Camus, quote“Everything begins with consciousness and nothing else matters.”
"The Myth of Sisyphus", 1944 - Albert Camus, quote
In 1947, a new, largest and, perhaps, most powerful prose work Camus, novel "Plague". One of the events that influenced the progress of work on the novel was the Second World War. Camus himself insisted on many readings of this book, but still singled out one.
In a letter to Roland Barthes about The Plague, he says that the novel is a symbolic reflection of the struggle of European society against Nazism.
“Anxiety is a slight aversion to the future”
"The Plague", 1947 - Albert Camus, quote"IN usual time We all, conscious of it or not, understand that there is love for which there are no limits, and nevertheless we agree, and even quite calmly, that our love is, in essence, second-class. But human memory is more demanding.” "The Plague", 1947 - Albert Camus, quote
“The evil that exists in the world is almost always the result of ignorance, and any good will can cause as much damage as evil, if only this good will is not sufficiently enlightened.
"The Plague", 1947 - Albert Camus, quote"
The first mention of the novel appears in Camus’s notes in 1941 under the title “Plague or Adventure (novel),” at which time he began studying specialized literature on the topic.
It should be noted that the first drafts of this manuscript differ significantly from final version, as the novel was written, its plot and some descriptions changed. Many details were noticed by the author during his stay in Oran.
The next work to see the light is "Rebel Man"(1951), where Camus explores the origin of man's resistance against the internal and environmental absurdity of existence.
In 1956, the story appears "A fall", and a year later a collection of essays is published "Exile and Kingdom".
The reward has found a hero
In 1957, Albert Camus received the Nobel Prize “for his enormous contribution to literature, highlighting the importance of human conscience.”
In his speech, which would later be called the “Swedish Speech,” Camus said that “he was too tightly chained to the galley of his time not to row with others, even believing that the galley stank of herring, that there were too many overseers on it, and that, above all, the wrong course has been taken."
He was buried in the cemetery at Lourmarin in the south of France.
Film based on the book by Olivier Todd “Albert Camus, a Life” - VIDEO
Albert Camus - French writer and a philosopher close to existentialism received common noun during his lifetime "Conscience of the West". Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957 "for his enormous contribution to literature, highlighting the importance of human conscience."
We will be pleased if you share with your friends: Albert Camus (1913-1960) - French writer, playwright, one of the founders of French “atheistic” existentialism, Nobel Prize laureate in literature. Basic philosophical works thinker - “The Myth of Sisyphus” (development of the philosophy and aesthetics of the “absurd”) “Rebel Man” (controversy with nihilism, considered as a prerequisite for the theory and practice of totalitarianism), “Letters to the German...This book includes two works by Camus, completely different in genre, but equally significant both for his work and for French existentialism in general.
What can unite an essay written at the intersection of literary studies and philosophy and a play that is a modern tragedy of fate?IN this volume included works by Albert Camus of the 1950s - last period his work, in which, according to researchers, the writer’s rebellious ideas were most clearly manifested.
It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about the programmatic philosophical essay “Rebel Man”, the last completed work of art"The Fall" or about the short stories from the series "Exile and the Kingdom", reflecting the profound changes that have occurred in...Albert Camus is a French philosopher and writer close to existentialism, received the common name "Conscience of the West", winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. He considered the highest embodiment of human existence to be the fight against violence and injustice, which is based on the concept of the highest moral law or human conscience.First notebook Camus started in the mid-30s, when he was just over twenty years old. The last notes were written shortly before his death. Collected together, these notes form a kind of autobiography, on the pages of which twenty-five years of the life of Albert Camus, his literary works and days...The collection includes best works one of the greatest writers of modern France, such as “The Plague”, “The Stranger”, “The Fall”, the play “Caligula”, short stories and essays. The writer’s work is characterized by a painful search for moral truths, attempts to understand and evaluate the meaning human existence. Albert Camus's play "The Misunderstanding", considered by researchers as a version of the modern tragedy of fate, was first published and staged in 1944. The main ideological core of "The Misunderstanding" is, as one of the researchers, V.V. Shervashidze, correctly notes -
Camus's novel "L"Étranger" was translated into Russian by the poet and literary critic Georgy Viktorovich Adamovich. At one time, G. V. Adamovich was part of a group of Acmeist poets, headed by N. S. Gumilyov."The Fall" is the last completed story by A. Camus. Trying to answer the eternal question: “What is the meaning of human existence?” - the writer chooses the form of the hero’s confessional monologue. Camus exposes the most terrible human vices, which cannot be condemned by the court as an authority, but are contrary to virtue.
Albert Camus - The First Man
A. Camus is one of the greatest prose writers of the 20th century, the author of the novels “The Stranger”, “The Plague”, “The Fall”, and a Nobel Prize laureate, awarded to him for works that “with extraordinary insight illuminated the problems of conscience in our era.”"First Man" is an unfinished novel by the writer, which after his death in a car accident lay hidden for a third of a century. Upon publication, the novel was a stunning success. Autobiographical
CAMUS, ALBERT (Camus, Albert) (1913-1960). Born on November 7, 1913 in the Algerian village of Mondovi, 24 km south of Bon (now Annaba), in the family of an agricultural worker. The father, an Alsatian by birth, died in the First world war. His mother, a Spaniard, moved with her two sons to Algeria, where Camus lived until 1939. In 1930, while finishing the lyceum, he fell ill with tuberculosis, from the consequences of which he suffered all his life. Having become a student at the University of Algiers, he studied philosophy and did odd jobs.
Concern social problems brought him to the Communist Party, but a year later he left it. He organized an amateur theater and took up journalism in 1938. Exempted from military conscription in 1939 for health reasons, in 1942 he joined the underground resistance organization “Komba”; edited her illegal newspaper with the same name. After leaving work at Comba in 1947, he wrote journalistic articles for the press, later collected in three books under common name Topical notes (Actuelles, 1950, 1953, 1958).
Books (7)
A fall
Be that as it may, after a long study of myself, I have established the deep two-facedness of human nature.
Rummaging through my memory, I then realized that modesty helped me shine, humility helped me win, and nobility helped me oppress. I waged war by peaceful means and, showing selflessness, achieved everything I wanted. For example, I never complained that I was not congratulated on my birthday, that this significant date was forgotten; my acquaintances were surprised at my modesty and almost admired it.
Outsider
A kind of creative manifesto, embodying the image of the search for absolute freedom. The “outsider” denies the narrowness of the moral norms of modern bourgeois culture.
The story is written in an unusual style - short phrases in the past time. The author's cold style later had a huge influence on European authors of the second half of the 20th century.
The story reveals the story of a man who committed murder, did not repent, refused to defend himself in court and was sentenced to death penalty.
The first sentence of the book became famous - “My mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know for sure.” A vivid work full of existentialism that brought Camus world fame.
Reflections on the guillotine
The topic of the death penalty, its legality or illegality as a measure of punishment for a crime, is one of the most socially significant legal and ethical problems for the states of the modern world.
Famous English writer and the publicist Arthur Koestler and the French philosopher and writer Albert Camus were perhaps the first European intellectuals who, with all the severity and relevance, raised before society the problem of the legality of this type of punishment.
Albert Camus
(1913 - 1960)
French writer and thinker, Nobel Prize laureate (1957), one of the brightest representatives of the literature of existentialism. In his artistic and philosophical work, he developed the existential categories of “existence”, “absurdity”, “rebellion”, “freedom”, “moral choice”, “ultimate situation”, and also developed traditions modernist literature. Depicting man in a “world without God,” Camus consistently considered the positions of “tragic humanism.” Except literary prose, the author’s creative heritage includes drama, philosophical essays, literary criticism, and journalistic speeches.
He was born on November 7, 1913 in Algeria, in the family of a rural worker who died from a serious wound received at the front in the First World War. Camus studied first at a communal school, then at the Algiers Lyceum, and then at the University of Algiers. He was interested in literature and philosophy, and devoted his thesis to philosophy.
In 1935 he created the amateur Theater of Labor, where he was an actor, director and playwright.
In 1936 he joined the Communist Party, from which he was expelled in 1937. In the same 1937 he published his first collection of essays, “The Inside Out and the Face.”
In 1938, the first novel, “Happy Death,” was written.
In 1940 he moved to Paris, but due to the German offensive, he lived and taught for some time in Oran, where he completed the story “The Outsider,” which attracted the attention of writers.
In 1941, he wrote the essay “The Myth of Sisyphus,” which was considered a programmatic existentialist work, as well as the drama “Caligula.”
In 1943, he settled in Paris, where he joined the resistance movement and collaborated with the illegal newspaper Combat, which he headed after the resistance threw the occupiers out of the city.
The second half of the 40s - the first half of the 50s - a period of creative development: the novel "The Plague" (1947) appeared, which brought the author world fame, the plays "State of Siege" (1948), "The Righteous" (1950), the essay "Rebel" man" (1951), the story "The Fall" (1956), the landmark collection "Exile and the Kingdom" (1957), the essay "Timely Reflections" (1950-1958), etc. Last years lives were marked by a creative decline.
The work of Albert Camus is an example of the fruitful combination of the talents of a writer and a philosopher. For the development of the artistic consciousness of this creator, acquaintance with the works of F. Nietzsche, A. Schopenhauer, L. Shestov, S. Kierkegaard, as well as ancient culture and French literature. One of the most important factors the formation of his existentialist worldview was the early experience of discovering the proximity of death (back in student years Camus fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis). As a thinker, he belongs to the atheistic branch of existentialism.
Pathos, denial of the values of bourgeois civilization, concentration on the ideas of the absurdity of existence and rebellion, characteristic of the work of A. Camus, were the reason for his rapprochement with the pro-communist circle of the French intelligentsia, and in particular with the ideologist of “left” existentialism J. P. Sartre. However, already in post-war years the writer broke with his former colleagues and comrades because he had no illusions about the “communist paradise” in former USSR and wanted to reconsider his relationship with “leftist” existentialism.
While still an aspiring writer, A. Camus drew up a plan for his future creative path, which was supposed to combine three facets of his talent and, accordingly, three areas of his interests - literature, philosophy and theater. There were such stages - “absurdity”, “rebellion”, “love”. The writer consistently implemented his plan, alas, at the third stage his creative path was cut short by death.