Albert Camus

Albert Camus was born on November 7th, 1913 in Drean, French Algeria. The son of a poor agricultural worker who died during World War I and a house cleaner, Camus had a difficult and poor childhood. Eventually, he was accepted into the University of Algiers on a football scholarship which he abruptly lost after contracting tuberculosis. Camus took odd jobs to pay for school and graduated in 1936 with a BA in philosophy.

In 1934, Camus met and married Simone Hie. They two were only married for a few months before infidelities on both sides caused them to separate. In 1935, Camus joined the French Communist Party but was expelled from the Party a year later for joining the Algerian People's Party for being a Trotskyite. He then became associated with the French anarchist movement. Camus began writing for anarchist magazines such as Le Libertaire, La revolution Proletarienne. He joined many protests during this time, including the workers uprising in Poznan, Poland, and the Hungarian Revolution.

In 1937, he began writing for a socialist paper called Alger-Republicain but later lost the job for reporting on the poor living conditions of peasants in Kabylie. In 1940, he was turned away by the French army because of his tuberculosis. That year, he married a pianist and mathematician named Francine Faure. Francine gave birth to twins named Jean and Catherine in 1945. Camus never fundamentally believed in the idea of marriage and argued against it passionately. He cheated on his wife with numerous mistresses sometimes in very public affairs.

In 1941, Camus began working for another newspaper and moved to Bordeaux with his family. He also began writing his first books. "The Stranger" was published in 1942, followed five years later by "The Plague" in 1947. In 1947, Camus founded the "Revolutionary Union Movement" a trade union movement. During the 1950's, he dedicated much of his time to working for UNESCO and human rights campaigns in Germany and Poland.

Camus' last novel during his lifetime was published in 1956. "The Fall" would go on to become one of his best-known novels. At the age of 44, Camus received the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was the second youngest person to ever receive the prize.

Camus died in a car accident in Villeblevin, France on January 4th, 1960 at the age of 46. The car was driven by his publisher and good friend, who passed away from his injuries five days later. More of Camus' works have been published posthumously, including "A Happy Death" in 1970 and "The First Man" in 1995, an unfinished autobiography that Camus was writing when he died.