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Albert Camus - biography, information, personal life. Albert Camus, short biography Albert Camus biography

French writer and philosopher, close to existentialism, received common name during the life of the "Conscience of the West"

Albert Camus was born November 7, 1913 in a French-Algerian family in Algeria, on the Saint-Pol farm near the town of Mondovi. His father, a wine cellar keeper, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Marly in 1914, and after his death his family faced serious financial difficulties.

In 1918, Albert began attending elementary school, graduating with honors in 1923. Then he studied at the Algiers Lyceum. In 1932-1937, Albert Camus studied at the University of Algiers, where he studied philosophy.

In 1934 he married Simone Iye (divorced in 1939), an extravagant nineteen-year-old girl who turned out to be a morphine addict.

In 1935 he received a bachelor's degree and in May 1936 a master's degree in philosophy.

In 1936 he created the amateur "Theater of Labor" (fr. Theater du Travail), renamed in 1937 into the Team Theater (fr. Theater de l'Equipe). He organized, in particular, the production of "The Brothers Karamazov" after Dostoevsky, played Ivan Karamazov. In 1936-1937 he traveled in France, Italy and the countries of Central Europe. In 1937, the first collection of essays, The Inside Out and the Face, was published, and the following year, the novel Marriage was published.

In 1936 he joined the Communist Party, from which he was expelled already in 1937. In the same 1937, he published the first collection of essays, The Inside Out and the Face.

After the Soir Republique was banned in January 1940, Camus and his future wife, Francine Faure, a mathematician by training, moved to Oran, where they gave private lessons. Two months later we moved from Algeria to Paris.

In 1942, The Outsider was published, which brought popularity to the author, in 1943 - The Myth of Sisyphus. Since 1943, he began to publish in the underground newspaper Komba, then became its editor. From the end of 1943, he began working at the Gallimard publishing house (he collaborated with him until the end of his life). During the war he published under the pseudonym Letters to a German Friend (later published as a separate edition). In 1943 he met Sartre, participated in the productions of his plays.

In 1944, Camus wrote the novel The Plague, in which fascism is the personification of violence and evil (it was published only in 1947).

50s are characterized by Camus's conscious desire to remain independent, to avoid predilections dictated exclusively by "party affiliation". One of the consequences was a disagreement with Jean Paul Sartre, prominent representative French existentialism. In 1951, an anarchist magazine published Albert Camus's book The Rebellious Man, in which the author explores how a person struggles with the internal and external absurdity of his existence. The book was perceived as a rejection of socialist beliefs, condemnation of totalitarianism, dictatorship, to which Camus attributed communism. Diary entries testify to the writer's regret about the strengthening of pro-Soviet sentiments in France, the political blindness of the left, who did not want to notice the crimes of the Soviet Union in the countries of Eastern Europe.

Shortly thereafter, his mother, nee Catherine Sintes, an illiterate woman of Spanish origin, had a stroke, as a result of which she became half-mute. The K. family moved to Algeria to live with their grandmother and disabled uncle, and in order to feed the family, Katrin was forced to work as a maid. Despite an unusually difficult childhood, Albert did not withdraw into himself; he admired the amazing beauty of the North African coast, which did not fit in with the boy's life of hardship. Childhood impressions left a deep imprint in the soul of K. - a man and an artist.

A great influence on K. had his school teacher Louis Germain, who, recognizing the ability of his student, gave him every support. With the help of Germain, Albert managed to enter the lyceum in 1923, where interest in learning was combined with young man with a passion for sports, especially boxing. However, in 1930, Mr.. K. fell ill with tuberculosis, which forever deprived him of the opportunity to play sports. Despite the illness, the future writer had to change many professions in order to pay for education at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Algiers. In 1934, Mr.. K. married Simone Iye, who turned out to be a morphine addict. Together they lived no more than a year, and in 1939 they officially divorced.

After completing works on Blessed Augustine and the Greek philosopher Plotinus K. in 1936, he received a master's degree in philosophy, but another outbreak of tuberculosis interfered with the young scientist's academic career, and K. did not remain in graduate school.

After leaving the university, K. for medical purposes takes a trip to the French Alps and for the first time is in Europe. Impressions from traveling in Italy, Spain, Czechoslovakia and France made up the writer's first published book, The Inside Out and the Face (L "Envers et 1" endroit, 1937), a collection of essays, which also included memories of his mother, grandmother, uncle. In 1936, Mr.. K. begins work on his first novel "Happy Death" ("La Mort heureuse"), which was published only in 1971.

Meanwhile, in Algeria, K. was already considered a leading writer and intellectual. Theatrical activities (K. was an actor, playwright, director), he combines these years with work in the newspaper "Republican Algeria" ("Alger Republicain") as a political reporter, book reviewer and editor. A year after the publication of the second book of the writer "Marriage" ("Noces", 1938), K. permanently moved to France.

During the German occupation of France, K. takes an active part in the resistance movement, collaborates in the underground newspaper "Battle" ("Le Comat"), published in Paris. Along with this activity, fraught with serious danger, K. is working on completing the story “The Stranger” (“L "Etranger", 1942), which he began back in Algeria and which brought him international fame. The story is an analysis of the alienation, the meaninglessness of human existence. The hero story - a certain Meursault, who was destined to become a symbol of an existential anti-hero, refuses to adhere to the conventions of bourgeois morality. For the "absurd", that is, devoid of any motives, committed by him, the murder of Meursault is sentenced to death - the hero K. dies, because he does not share generally accepted norms The dry, detached style of narration (which, according to some critics, K. has in common with Hemingway) further emphasizes the horror of what is happening.

The "Outsider", which was a huge success, was followed by the philosophical essay "The Myth of Sisyphe" ("Le Mythe de Sisyphe", 1942), where the author compares the absurdity of human existence with the work of the mythical Sisyphus, doomed to wage a constant struggle against forces with which he cannot cope with. Rejecting the Christian idea of salvation and the afterlife, which gives meaning to the "Sisyphean labor" of man, K. paradoxically finds meaning in the struggle itself. Salvation, according to K., is in everyday work, the meaning of life is in activity.

After the end of the war, K. continued to work for some time in the "Battle", which is now becoming the official daily newspaper. However, political disagreements between the right and the left forced K., who considered himself an independent radical, in 1947 to leave the newspaper. In the same year, the writer's third novel, "The Plague" ("La Peste"), is the story of a plague epidemic in the Algerian city of Oran; in a figurative sense, however, the "Plague" is the Nazi occupation of France and, more broadly, a symbol of death and evil. The theme of universal evil is also devoted to "Caligula" ("Caligula", 1945), the best, according to the unanimous opinion of critics, the play of the writer. Caligula, based on Suetonius' book On the Life of the Twelve Caesars, is considered a significant milestone in the history of the theater of the absurd.

As one of the leading figures in the post-war French literature, K. at this time closely converges with Jean Paul Sartre. At the same time, the ways of overcoming the absurdity of being in Sartre and K. do not coincide, and in the early 50s. as a result of serious ideological differences, K. breaks with Sartre and with existentialism, whose leader was considered Sartre. In "The Rebellious Man" ("L "Homme revolte", 1951), K. examines the theory and practice of protest against power over the centuries, criticizing dictatorial ideologies, including communism and other forms of totalitarianism, which encroach on freedom and, consequently, on the dignity of man.Although back in 1945, K. said that he had “too few points of contact with the now fashionable philosophy of existentialism, the conclusions of which are false,” it was the denial of Marxism that led to K.’s break with the pro-Marxist Sartre.

In the 50s. K. continues to write essays, plays, prose. In 1956, the writer published the ironic story "The Fall" ("La Chute"), in which the repentant judge Jean Baptiste Clamence confesses his crimes against morality. Turning to the theme of guilt and repentance, K. widely uses Christian symbols in The Fall.

In 1957, Mr.. K. was awarded the Nobel Prize "for his enormous contribution to literature, highlighting the importance of human conscience." Presenting the award to the French writer, Anders Esterling, a representative of the Swedish Academy, noted that “ philosophical views K. were born in a sharp contradiction between the acceptance of earthly existence and awareness of the reality of death. In response, K. said that his work is based on the desire to "avoid outright lies and resist oppression.

When K. received the Nobel Prize, he was only 44 years old and he, in his own words, reached creative maturity; the writer had extensive creative plans, as evidenced by notes in notebooks and memories of friends. However, these plans were not destined to come true: in early 1960, the writer died in a car accident in the south of France.

Although the work of K. caused a lively controversy after his death, many critics consider him one of the most significant figures of his time. K. showed the alienation and disappointment of the post-war generation, but stubbornly sought a way out of the absurdity of modern existence. The writer was sharply criticized for rejecting Marxism and Christianity, but nevertheless his influence on modern literature is beyond doubt. In an obituary published in the Italian newspaper "Evening Courier" ("Corriere della sera"), the Italian poet Eugenio Montale wrote that "K.'s nihilism does not exclude hope, does not free a person from a decision difficult problem how to live and die with dignity.

According to the American scholar Susan Sontag, "K.'s prose is devoted not so much to his heroes as to the problems of guilt and innocence, responsibility and nihilistic indifference." Believing that the work of K. is not “different high art, nor the depth of thought,” Sontag states that “his works are distinguished by a beauty of a completely different kind, a moral beauty.” The English critic A. Alvarez is of the same opinion, calling K. "a moralist who managed to raise ethical problems to philosophical ones."

(1913-1960) French writer and philosopher

Albert Camus belonged to that rare type of writers who are called moralists. However, Camus's morality is of a special kind. The deep meaning of the works of the French writer is difficult to understand without getting to know the philosophical system that underlies them. This philosophy is called existentialism, that is, the philosophy of existence.

Existentialists believed that a person is alone in someone else's and scary world which puts pressure on him from all sides, restricts his freedom, forces him to obey invented conventions, and therefore does not allow him to become an independent and free person. From this arise moods of pessimism and the tragedy of existence, which in itself is meaningless, since everything ends with the death of a person.

True, existentialists gave a person the right to free choice, however, in their opinion, he was limited to only two options: to completely merge with society, to become like everyone else, or to remain himself, which means to oppose himself to all other people.

Albert Camus chooses the second, although he understands the whole pointlessness of rebellion against social order, no matter how absurd they may be.

The main character of Albert Camus, as, indeed, of other existentialist philosophers, many of whom were also writers, is a person who is in a borderline situation - on the verge of life and death. These suffering and desperate people become the subject of the writer's study. In such situations, all the feelings of a person are even more aggravated, and, conveying the emotional state of his hero, the writer shows that all these feelings - fear, conscience, care, responsibility, loneliness - are the main thing that accompanies a person all his life.

Camus did not immediately become such a writer, although already in his early works tragic motives appear. His characters try to enjoy life before it's too late, constantly feeling that their existence will end sooner or later. This is the basis of the writer's favorite aphorism: "Without despair in life, there is no love for life."

It is difficult to say that in the life of Albert Camus such a perception of the world was formed, although life did not indulge him. Perhaps this was the main reason for the writer's pessimism.

Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 on the farm "Saint Paul", in the suburbs of Mondovi, in the Algerian department of Constantine. His father was Lucien Camus, a French agricultural worker, and his mother, Catherine Santes, a Spaniard. The boy was not even a year old when his father was mortally wounded in the Battle of the Marne and died in the hospital. To raise two sons, Lucien and Albert, the mother moved to the outskirts of Algiers and got a job as a cleaner. The family lived literally on a penny, but Albert managed to finish Bellecour's elementary school with honors.

The schoolteacher, who also fought on the Marne, secured a scholarship for the gifted boy at the Algerian Lyceum Bujo. Here, Albert Camus really became interested in philosophy and became friends with the teacher of philosophy and literature, Jean Grenier, who was engaged in religious existentialism. Obviously, he had a decisive influence on the worldview of the young Camus.

In the midst of his studies at the lyceum, the young man fell ill with tuberculosis, this disease of poverty and deprivation. Since then, the disease has not left him, and Albert Camus had to undergo regular courses of treatment.

Then at the Lyceum, he first read Dostoevsky, who became his favorite writer for the rest of his life. Camus begins to lead diary entries and, on the advice of J. Grenier, he tries to write himself. His first works are “Jean Rictus. Poet of Poverty", "On Music", "Philosophy of the Century" and others - in 1932 were published in the lyceum magazine "South". In the same year, Camus writes literary and philosophical essays "Delirium", "Doubts", "The Temptation of Lies", "Return to Oneself", the titles of which speak for themselves.

In the autumn of 1932, he entered the philological faculty of the University of Algiers, where he began to study ancient Greek philosophy. In the same place, his mentor J. Grenier taught a philosophy course, with whom Albert Camus continued to maintain warm relations. In addition to ancient philosophy, he reads a lot of modern philosophers and is increasingly imbued with their way of thinking.

In the second year, when he was twenty years old, Camus marries a student of his own faculty, Simone Guiet. Next summer, he and his wife spend in the Balearic Islands, and these happy Days Albert Camus later described in his book "The inside and the face."

In his student years, Albert is actively involved in public life. He tries to remake the world and writes in his diary: “I was halfway between poverty and the sun. Poverty prevented me from believing that all is well in history and under the sun, the sun taught me that history is not everything. The study of ancient philosophers helped Albert Camus understand that human history has always been dysfunctional to a large extent due to the fact that self-serving people rule the world. In his younger years, he was still a dreamer, so he thought that by joint efforts, together with other "champions of honor", he would be able to change the existing situation. He began to engage in educational work and in 1935 organized a traveling Theater of Labor, where he tried himself as a director, as a playwright, and as an actor. Plays by Russian authors were also staged in this theater, in particular, Pushkin's The Stone Guest, Gorky's At the Bottom, Dostoevsky's staging of The Brothers Karamazov.

Even earlier, Albert Camus took an active part in the work of the committee to promote the international movement "Amsterdam-Pleyel" in defense of culture against fascism and in the fall of 1934 joined the Algerian section of the French Communist Party.

In 1936, Albert Camus, together with his wife, as well as with his university friend and co-author of the play "Rebellion in Asturias" Bourgeois, set off on a trip to Central Europe, which he later described in his essay "With Death in the Soul." When they were in Austria, they learned from the newspapers about the fascist rebellion in Spain. This tragic news was mixed with personal troubles. Camus quarreled with his wife and then traveled alone. Returning to Algeria through Italy, Camus divorces his wife and, impressed by the hardships that have befallen him, begins work on his main works - The Myth of Sisyphus, the novels Happy Death and The Outsider.

Albert Camus himself called his philosophical work "The Myth of Sisyphus" an "essay on the absurd". It was based on the well-known ancient Greek legend about the eternal worker Sisyphus, whom the vengeful gods doomed to eternal torment. He was supposed to roll a piece of rock up the mountain, but as soon as he reached the top, the block fell off, and everything had to be started all over again. Camus shows his Sisyphus as a wise and courageous hero who understands the injustice of his share, but does not beg the gods for mercy, but despises them. Thus, performing his seemingly meaningless work, Sisyphus does not give up and, with his spiritual disobedience, challenges the executioners.

The aggravation of tuberculosis prevented Albert Camus from going to Spain to take part in the defense of the republic. And in the same year, 1937, another unpleasant event occurred. After graduating from university, Camus wanted to work scientific work, however, due to health reasons, he was not allowed to take competitive examinations in philosophy, which blocked his path to obtaining a degree.

He soon became disillusioned with communist ideals and left the Communist Party, but continued to work in the leftist press. In 1938, he began working for Algerepubliken (Republican Algeria), a newspaper published by the Parisian publisher Pascal Pia, where he wrote a literary chronicle and other sections. In the same year, Albert Camus wrote philosophical drama"Caligula" and thoroughly sat down for the novel "The Outsider", interspersing this work with writing essays, notes, journalistic articles. By that time, his essay “Dostoevsky and Suicide” dates back, which under the title “Kirillov” was included in the “Myth of Sisyphus”, in addition, he wrote the famous pamphlet “Dialogue between the Chairman of the State Council and an employee with a monthly salary of 1200 francs”, which testifies that Camus was still characterized by rebellious moods, although he was already more and more aware of the whole pointlessness of the struggle against the existing order. While still working on The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus came up with another of his favorite aphorisms: The only truth- this is disobedience.

However, unlike his hero Sisyphus, the writer not only silently despises the mighty of the world this - he tries to openly fight them. In 1939, in Algiers, the trial of the Gaudin case took place, at which the writer spoke in defense of the unjustly accused minor employee, a Frenchman, and seven Arab laborers, as a result of which they were acquitted. In the same year, Albert Camus defended Muslim agricultural workers who were accused of setting fires. He signs his reports from the courtroom with the pseudonym Meursault, which will become the name of the protagonist of his novel The Outsider.

In the spring of 1940, Albert Camus left for Oran, where he gave private lessons with his future wife, Francine Faure. But a month later he received an invitation from Pascal Pia to work in his newspaper Pari-Soir (Evening Paris) and immediately left for Paris. However, he did not have to work quietly: in the summer of 1940, Nazi Germany occupied France, and before the Germans entered Paris, the editors of Paris-Soir moved to the small town of Clermont-Ferrand, and then to Lyon. Francine Faure came here to Camus, and at the end of the year they got married.

After the occupation of the whole of France, Camus had to wander the "roads of defeat" for several years. He worked in Marseille, then went to Oran, from where he returned to France again. Here Camus joined the ranks of the French Resistance and joined the work of the underground organization "Combat" ("Struggle").

During the years of the occupation, Albert Camus collected intelligence for the partisans and worked in the illegal press, where in 1943-1944. his "Letters to a German Friend" were published - a philosophical and journalistic rebuke to those who tried to justify the atrocities of the Nazis. When in August 1944 an uprising took place in Paris, Camus was at the head of the Combat newspaper. At that time, he was experiencing a real upsurge. Several of his plays, in particular "Misunderstanding" and "Caligula", where leading role played by Gerard Philip, were staged in theaters. In the family of Albert Camus, two twins were born. Paris was liberated from occupation, and on the pages of the newspaper the writer called for the establishment in France of such orders that would allow "reconciliation of freedom and justice", open access to power only to those who are honest and care about the welfare of others. But at thirty he turned out to be the same dreamer that he was at twenty. Counting on the universal brotherhood, which helped during the war, Camus did not take into account the fact that people with different interests united only at the time of danger. And when she passed, everything fell into place; in any case, Camus, with his calls for honesty and justice, was again not heard.

The ensuing disappointment once again confirmed the writer in the idea that society lives according to its own laws, which are separate honest people change is beyond the power, therefore, one must either adapt to them, or remain oneself, showing "mental disobedience."

By this time, Albert Camus is already becoming a world famous writer. His novel The Stranger, which was published in 1942, gained immense popularity. In it, Camus expressed his long-suffering idea that a person who does not want to be hypocritical and conform to generally accepted standards is a stranger, an “outsider” in this world of universal lies.

However, Albert Camus boundlessly believes in the power of his writing and continues to fight alone. In 1947, his next novel, The Plague, was published, in which he describes a terrible plague epidemic that broke out in one city. However, the title makes readers remember the phrase "brown plague", as fascism was called, and the writer's remark that "plague, like war, has always taken people by surprise" leaves no doubt that this novel is directed against fascism.

In 1951, Albert Camus published the philosophical pamphlet The Rebellious Man, in which he sharply criticized communist ideals. However, the further, the more Camus feels that he has fallen into the trap of his own denial of everything and everyone. He protests, but this does not change much, although the writer is already being called "the conscience of the West." Camus travels a lot - in the USA, South America, Greece, Italy, other countries, but everywhere he sees the same thing.

In his speech, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on December 10, 1957, Albert Camus admitted that he was too firmly chained to the "galley of his time" to so easily refuse not to "row with others, even believing that the galley stank of herring that there are too many overseers on it and that, in addition to everything, the wrong course has been taken.

In the last year before his unexpected death, Albert Camus almost stopped writing, he thought about directing and already tried to stage, but not his own plays, but stage adaptations of W. Faulkner's "Requiem for a Nun" and F. Dostoevsky's "Demons". However, he did not manage to find a new support for himself in life. January 4, 1960, returning to Paris after the Christmas holidays, Albert Camus died in a car accident.

The famous writer and philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, with whom Camus was connected by many things - both friendship and enmity, said in his farewell speech: “Camus represented in our century - and in a dispute against current history - today's heir to the old breed of those moralists whose work is is probably the most distinctive line in French literature. His stubborn humanism, narrow and pure, stern and sensual, waged a doubtful battle against the crushing and ugly trends of the era.

Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 in Algiers, in the family of an agricultural worker. He was less than a year old when his father died on First World War. After the death of his father, Albert's mother suffered a stroke and became half-mute. Camus's childhood was very difficult.

In 1923, Albert entered the Lyceum. He was a bright student and was active in sports. However, after the young man fell ill with tuberculosis, the sport had to be abandoned.

After the lyceum, the future writer entered the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Algiers. Camus had to work hard to be able to pay his tuition. In 1934, Albert Camus married Simone Iye. The wife turned out to be a morphine drug addict, and the marriage with her did not last long.

In 1936, the future writer received a master's degree in philosophy. Just after receiving his diploma, Camus had an exacerbation of tuberculosis. Because of this, he did not stay in graduate school.

To improve his health, Camus went on a trip to France. He described his impressions of the trip in his first book, The Inside Out and the Face (1937). In 1936, the writer began work on his first novel, A Happy Death. This work was only published in 1971.

Camus very quickly gained a reputation as a major writer and intellectual. He not only wrote, but was also an actor, playwright, director. In 1938, his second book, Marriage, was published. At this time, Camus was already living in France.

During the German occupation of France, the writer took an active part in the resistance movement, he also worked in the underground newspaper "Battle", which was published in Paris. In 1940, the story "The Outsider" was completed. This piercing work brought the writer world fame. This was followed by the philosophical essay "The Myth of Sisyphus" (1942). In 1945, the play "Caligula" was released. In 1947, the novel The Plague appeared.

Philosophy of Albert Camus

Camus was one of the most prominent representatives existentialism. His books convey the idea of the absurdity of human existence, which in any case will end in death. In early works ("Caligula", "The Stranger"), the absurdity of life leads Camus to despair and immorality, reminiscent of Nietzscheism. But in The Plague and subsequent books, the writer insists that a common tragic fate should give rise to a feeling of mutual compassion and solidarity in people. The goal of the personality is “to create meaning among the universal nonsense”, “to overcome the human lot, drawing within oneself the strength that one had previously sought outside”.

In the 1940s Camus became close friends with another prominent existentialist, Jean-Paul Sartre. However, due to serious ideological differences, the moderate humanist Camus broke with the communist radical Sartre. In 1951 came out a major philosophical work of Camus "The Rebellious Man", and in 1956 - the story "The Fall".

In 1957, Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize "for his enormous contribution to literature, highlighting the importance of the human conscience."

Biography (en.wikipedia.org)

Life in Algiers

Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 in Algiers, on the Saint-Pol farm near the town of Mondovi. His father, agricultural worker Lucien Camus, an Alsatian by birth, died in the Battle of the Marne at the beginning of the First World War. Mother Kutrin Sante, a Spaniard by nationality, moved with her children to the city of Algiers.

In 1932-1937. studied at the University of Algiers, where he studied philosophy. During his studies, he read a lot, began to keep diaries, wrote essays. In 1936-1937. traveled in France, Italy and the countries of Central Europe. In his senior years at the university, he became interested in socialist ideas. In the spring of 1935, he joined the French Communist Party, in solidarity with the uprising in Asturias. He was in the local cell of the French Communist Party for more than a year, until he was expelled for ties with the Algerian People's Party, accusing him of "Trotskyism." In 1936 he created the amateur "People's Theatre", organized, in particular, the production of "The Brothers Karamazov" after Dostoevsky, played Ivan Karamazov.

Back in 1930, Camus was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and, despite his recovery, for many years he suffered from the consequences of the disease. For health reasons, he was denied postgraduate studies, for the same reason he was later not drafted into the army.

After graduating from the university, Camus headed the Algiers House of Culture for some time, in 1938 he was the editor of the Coast magazine, then the left-wing opposition newspapers Alzhe Republiken and Soir Republicen. On the pages of these publications, Camus at that time advocated the implementation of a socially oriented state policy and the improvement of the situation of the Arab population of Algeria. Both newspapers were closed by military censors after the outbreak of World War II. During these years, Camus wrote a lot, mostly essays and journalistic materials. In January 1939, the first version of the play "Caligula" was written.

After the Soir Republique was banned in January 1940, Camus and his future wife, Francine Faure, moved to Oran, where they lived, giving private lessons. Two months later they leave Algiers and move to Paris.

War period

In Paris, Albert Camus got a job as a technical editor for the Paris-Soir newspaper. In May 1940, the novel "The Outsider" was completed. In December of the same year, the opposition-minded Camus was fired from Pari-suar and, not wanting to live in an occupied country, he returned to Oran, where he taught French V private school. In February 1941, The Myth of Sisyphus was completed.

Soon Camus joins the Resistance Movement, becomes a member of the underground organization Komba, and returns to Paris. In 1942, The Outsider was published, in 1943 - The Myth of Sisyphus. Since 1943, he began to publish in the underground newspaper Komba, then became its editor. From the end of 1943, he began working at the Gallimard publishing house (he collaborated with him until the end of his life). During the war he published under the pseudonym "Letters to a German Friend" (later published as a separate edition). In 1943, he met Sartre, participated in the productions of his plays (in particular, it was Camus who first uttered the phrase “Hell is others” from the stage). In 1944, the novel The Plague was written (published only in 1947).

Postwar years

After the end of the war, Camus continues to work at Komba, his previously written works are published, which brought the writer popularity. In 1947, his gradual break with the left movement and personally with Sartre begins. He leaves Comb, becomes an independent journalist - writes journalistic articles for various publications (later published in three collections called Topical Notes). At this time, he created the plays "State of Siege" and "The Righteous".

Collaborates with anarchists and revolutionary syndicalists and publishes in their magazines and newspapers "Liberter", "Monde Liberter", "Proletarian Revolution" and others. Participates in the creation of the "International Relations Group".

In 1951, the anarchist magazine Liberter published "The Rebellious Man", where Camus explores the anatomy of a person's rebellion against the surrounding and internal absurdity of existence. Critics on the left, including Sartre, saw this as a rejection of the political struggle for socialism (which, according to Camus, leads to the establishment of authoritarian regimes like Stalin's). Even greater criticism of the left radicals was caused by Camus' support for the French community of Algeria after the Algerian War that began in 1954. For some time, Camus collaborated with UNESCO, but after Spain, led by Franco, became a member of this organization in 1952, he stopped his work there. Camus continues to keep a close eye on political life Europe, in his diaries he regrets the growth of pro-Soviet sentiments in France and the readiness of the French left to turn a blind eye to the crimes of the communist authorities in Eastern Europe, their unwillingness to see in the USSR-sponsored “Arab revival” the expansion not of socialism and justice, but of violence and authoritarianism.

He was increasingly fascinated by the theater, since 1954 he began to stage plays based on his own dramatizations, and was negotiating the opening of the Experimental Theater in Paris. In 1956, Camus wrote the story "The Fall", on next year The collection of short stories "Exile and Kingdom" is published.

In 1957 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In a speech on the occasion of the award, characterizing his life position, he 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 was taken." In the last years of his life, Camus wrote practically nothing.

On January 4, 1960, the Facel-Vega car, in which Albert Camus, along with the family of his friend Michel Gallimard, was returning from Provence to Paris, flew off the road. The accident occurred on the sixth national road (N6) 102 kilometers from Paris between the cities of Le Petit Chaumont and Villeneuve-la-Guillard, not far from the turn to the town of Villeneuve. Albert Camus died instantly. The death of the writer came at about 13 hours 54 minutes. His body was transferred to the town hall, where it remained until the morning of the next day. Michel Gallimard died in hospital two days later. His wife and daughter survived. Among the personal belongings of the writer, a manuscript of the unfinished novel "The First Man" and an unused railway ticket were found. Albert Camus was buried in the town of Lourmarin in the Luberon region in southern France. In November 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy offered to transfer the ashes of the writer to the Pantheon.

Philosophical views

Camus himself did not consider himself a philosopher, much less an existentialist. Nevertheless, the work of representatives of this philosophical trend had a great influence on the work of Camus. At the same time, his commitment to existentialist issues is also due to a serious illness (and, therefore, a constant feeling of the proximity of death), with which he lived since childhood (ironically, he died not from an illness, but due to a tragic accident).

Unlike religious existentialists, like Jaspers, and the "rebel" Sartre, Camus believed that the only way to combat absurdity was to recognize its givenness. In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus writes that in order to understand what makes a person do meaningless work, one must imagine Sisyphus descending from the mountain happy. Many Camus heroes come to a similar state of mind under the influence of circumstances (threat to life, death of loved ones, conflict with their own conscience, etc.), their further destinies different.

The highest embodiment of the absurd, according to Camus, are various attempts to forcibly improve society - fascism, Stalinism, etc. Being a humanist and anti-authoritarian socialist, he believed that the fight against violence and injustice "with their own methods" could only give rise to even greater violence and injustice .

Editions

* Camus A. Selected: Collection. - M.: Raduga, 1989. - 464 p. (Masters of modern prose)

Bibliography

Novels

* Plague (fr. La Peste) (1947)
* First Man (French: Le premier homme) (unfinished, published posthumously in 1994)

Tale

* Outsider (fr. L'Etranger) (1942)
* Fall (fr. La Chute) (1956)
* Happy Death (fr. La Mort heureuse) (1938, published posthumously in 1971)

stories

* Exile and kingdom (fr. L "Exil et le royaume) (1957)
* Unfaithful wife (fr. La Femme adultere)
* Renegade, or Confused Spirit (fr. Le Renegat ou un esprit confus)
* Silence (fr. Les Muets)
* Hospitality (fr. L "Hote)
* Jonah, or the Artist at work (fr. Jonas ou l'artiste au travail)
* Growing stone (Fr. La Pierre qui pousse)

Plays

* Misunderstanding (fr. Le Malentendu) (1944)
* Caligula (fr. Caligula) (1945)
* State of siege (fr. L'Etat de siege) (1948)
* The Righteous (fr. Les Justes) (1949)
* Requiem for a nun (fr. Requiem pour une nonne) (1956)
* Demons (fr. Les Possedes) (1959)

Essay

*Revolte dans les Asturies (1936)
* Inside and face (fr. L'Envers et l'Endroit) (1937)
* Marriage feast (fr. Noces) (1939)
* The myth of Sisyphus (fr. Le Mythe de Sisyphe) (1942)
* Reflections on the guillotine (fr. Reflexions sur la Guillotine) (1947)
* Rebellious Man (fr. L'Homme revolte) (1951)
* L "Ete (1954)

Other

* Topical notes 1944-1948 (fr. Actuelles I, Chroniques 1944-1948) (1950)
* Topical notes 1943-1951 (fr. Actuelles II, Chroniques 1948-1953) (1953)
* Topical notes 1939-1958 (fr. Chroniques algeriennes, Actuelles III, 1939-1958) (1958)
* Diaries, May 1935-February 1942 (fr. Carnets I, mai 1935-fevrier 1942) (1962)
* Diaries, January 1942-March 1951 (fr. Carnets II, janvier 1942-mars 1951) (1964)
* Diaries, March 1951-December 1959 (fr. Carnets III, mars 1951-decembre 1959) (1989)

Biography

The French essayist, writer and playwright Albert Camus was born in Mondovi, Algeria, the son of an agricultural worker, Lucien Camus, an Alsatian by origin, who died on the Marne during the First World War, when Albert was less than a year. Shortly thereafter, his mother, nee Catherine Sintes, an illiterate woman of Spanish origin, had a stroke, as a result of which she became half-mute. The K. family moved to Algeria to live with their grandmother and disabled uncle, and in order to feed the family, Katrin was forced to work as a maid. Despite an unusually difficult childhood, Albert did not withdraw into himself; he admired the amazing beauty of the North African coast, which did not fit in with the boy's life of hardship. Childhood impressions left a deep imprint in the soul of K. - a man and an artist.

A great influence on K. had his school teacher Louis Germain, who, recognizing the ability of his student, gave him every support. With the help of Germain, Albert managed to enter the Lyceum in 1923, where the young man's interest in learning was combined with a passion for sports, especially boxing. However, in 1930, Mr.. K. fell ill with tuberculosis, which forever deprived him of the opportunity to play sports. Despite the illness, the future writer had to change many professions in order to pay for education at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Algiers. In 1934, Mr.. K. married Simone Iye, who turned out to be a morphine addict. Together they lived no more than a year, and in 1939 they officially divorced.

During the German occupation of France, K. takes an active part in the resistance movement, collaborates in the underground newspaper "Battle" ("Le Comat"), published in Paris. Along with this activity, fraught with serious dangers, K. is working on completing the story "The Outsider" ("L" Etranger", 1942), which he began back in Algeria and which brought him international fame. For "The Outsider", which was a huge success, was followed by a philosophical essay "The Myth of Sisyphe" ("Le Mythe de Sisyphe", 1942), where the author compares the absurdity of human existence with the work of the mythical Sisyphus, doomed to wage a constant struggle against forces that he cannot cope with.

After the end of the war K. some time continues to work in the "Battle", which is now becoming the official daily newspaper. However, political disagreements between the right and the left forced K., who considered himself an independent radical, in 1947 to leave the newspaper. In the same year, the third novel of the writer, "The Plague" ("La Reste"), is the story of a plague epidemic in the Algerian city of Oran; in a figurative sense, however, "Plague" is the Nazi occupation of France and, more broadly, a symbol of death and evil. The topic of universal evil is also devoted to "Caligula" ("Caligula", 1945), the best, according to the unanimous opinion of critics, the play of the writer. "Caligula", based on the book of Suetonius "On the Life of the Twelve Caesars", is considered a significant milestone in the history of the theater of the absurd.

As one of the leading figures in post-war French literature, K. at this time closely converges with Jean Paul Sartre. At the same time, the ways of overcoming the absurdity of being in Sartre and K. do not coincide, and in the early 50s. as a result of serious ideological differences, K. breaks with Sartre and with existentialism, whose leader was considered Sartre.

In 1957, Mr.. K. was awarded the Nobel Prize "for his enormous contribution to literature, highlighting the importance of human conscience." Presenting the prize to the French writer, Anders Esterling, a representative of the Swedish Academy, noted that "the philosophical views of K. were born in a sharp contradiction between the acceptance of earthly existence and awareness of the reality of death." In response, K. said that his work is based on the desire to "avoid outright lies and resist oppression."

When K. received the Nobel Prize, he was only 44 years old and he, in his own words, reached creative maturity; the writer had extensive creative plans, as evidenced by notes in notebooks and memoirs of friends. However, these plans were not destined to come true: in early 1960, the writer died in a car accident in the south of France.

Biography

(1913-1960), French writer. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1957. Born November 7, 1913 in the Algerian village of Mondovi, 24 km south of Bon (now Annaba), in the family of an agricultural worker. His father, an Alsatian by birth, died in the First World War. His mother, a Spaniard, moved with her two sons to Algiers, where Camus lived until 1939. In 1930, graduating from high school, he fell ill with tuberculosis, the consequences of which he suffered all his life. Becoming a student at the University of Algiers, he studied philosophy, interrupted by odd jobs.

concern social problems led him to the Communist Party, but a year later he left it. He organized an amateur theater, from 1938 he took up journalism. Released in 1939 from military conscription for health reasons, in 1942 he joined the underground organization of the Resistance "Komba"; edited her illegal newspaper of the same name. Leaving in 1947 work in Combat, he wrote journalistic articles for the press, subsequently collected in three books under the general title Topical Notes (Actuelles, 1950, 1953, 1958).

In 1953 Camus returned to theatrical activities: puts on performances based on his own dramatizations, incl. Requiem for a Nun (1956) by W. Faulkner, Demons by F. Dostoevsky (1954); is preparing to head a state-subsidized experimental theater, which was prevented by death in a car accident on January 4, 1960. Camus began writing before he was 20 years old, his first books - Inside and Out (L "envers et l" endroit, 1937) and The Wedding Feast (Noces, 1938) - published in Algiers.

He wrote the novels Outsider (L "tranger, 1942), The Plague (La Peste, 1947) and The Fall (La Chute, 1956); stories; plays by Caligula (Caligula, 1944), Misunderstanding (Le Malentendu, 1944), State of siege ( L "tat de sige, 1948) and the Righteous (Les Justes, 1950); lyric essays; philosophical treatises The Myth of Sisyphe (Le Mythe de Sisyphe, 1942) and The Rebellious Man (L "Homme rvolt, 1951); posthumously published collection of journalism Topical Notes (Actuelles, 1961), as well as prefaces, articles and speeches.

Unfinished autobiographical novel The first man (Le Premier homme), a draft of which was found at the site of Camus's death, was published in 1994. The Outsider and the Myth of Sisyphus contain major clues to Camus' philosophy.

The consciousness of Meursault, the hero of the Outsider, awakens only towards the very end of the story, when he faces the death penalty for the accidental, wanton murder of an unfamiliar Arab. The prototype of the modern anti-hero, he infuriates the judges by rejecting their hypocrisy and refusing to admit his own guilt. In the Myth of Sisyphus, the mythological hero Sisyphus begins where Meursault left off. The gods sentenced him forever to roll a huge stone up the mountain, which, having reached the top, falls down again, but Sisyphus stubbornly starts over every time, realizing the futility of his work. In this consciousness of the senselessness of his actions lies his victory. In The Plague, an epidemic of bubonic plague strikes an Algerian port city.

The author's attention is focused on a group of people who, like Sisyphus, are aware of the futility of their efforts and yet continue to work tirelessly in order to alleviate the suffering of their fellow citizens. In Camus' latest novel, The Fall, a respectable lawyer leads a mindless existence until a moment of epiphany condemns him to self-doubt and self-justification for the rest of his life. Of the five plays by Camus, Caligula was the most successful. With his life and death, Caligula brings the idea of absurdity and rebellion to the conclusion that his choice is completely untenable.

LITERATURE

* Velikovsky S.I. Facets of "unhappy consciousness"
* Theater, prose, philosophical essays, aesthetics of Albert Camus. M., 1973 Kushkin E.P. Albert Camus
* Early years. L., 1982 Camus A. Outsider. Plague. A fall. Stories and essays. M., 1988 Camus A. Creativity and freedom
* Articles, essays, notebooks. M., 1990 Camus A. A rebellious man
* Philosophy. Policy. Art. M., 1990 Camus A. The first person. Kharkov, 1995

Biography

Main Ideas
The absurd lies in the opposition of the human need for meaning, on the one hand, and the indifferent, meaningless world, on the other.

The existence of the absurd makes the problem of suicide a major philosophical issue.

The absurd does not require death; the value of life is given by the consciousness of the absurd, together with the rebellion, which lies in the demonstrative heroism that opposes injustice.

By rebelling against absurd circumstances - social, political or personal - the rebel shows solidarity with other people and encourages the struggle for a more human world.

Although Albert Camus did not like to be called an existentialist, the writings that won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957 greatly contributed to the popularization of this philosophical movement. Novelist, playwright, essayist, Camus was born and raised in Algiers, where he founded a theater troupe, for which he wrote and staged plays himself. In 1940 he moved to Paris, actively participated in the French Resistance, and was engaged in journalism. He was friends with Jean-Paul Sartre, but this friendship broke up, and the former friends became philosophical rivals, although many of their views are very similar.

Camus was not an academic philosopher. He lived in a difficult time, when life often hung in the balance, and therefore, reflecting on its meaning, he could not delve into the subtlest philosophical distinctions. It seemed to Camus that traditional values and way of life had failed. He dramatized this situation in plays and novels (The Outsider (1942) and The Plague (1947) and subjected it to philosophical analysis in essays that asked: "Is life worth it?" Death prevented him from giving a definitive answer, for Camus died suddenly.A lover of fast driving, he crashed in a car accident.

"The Myth of Sisyphus"

With his desire for scientific precision and mathematical clarity, new philosophy tried to get rid of the mythical forms of expression. However, few philosophical works of the twentieth century have aroused as wide interest as Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus (1942). In this work, Camus used a theme from ancient legends about gods and heroes. He was especially attracted to Sisyphus - a mortal who defied fate. Sisyphus did not submit to the authoritarian gods, and the gods repaid him by forever condemning him to raise a boulder to the top of a hill, from where it immediately rolled down. The endless fulfillment of this task did not bring him anything, apparently, but he did not back down from it.

We are not far from Sisyphus, argued Camus. The Myth of Sisyphus begins with these words: “There is only one truly serious philosophical problem and it's a suicide problem. Having judged whether it is worth living or not, we will answer the fundamental question of philosophy. Camus did not think that we could resort to the help of God or religious faith to solve this problem. The goal of his quest, says Camus in the preface to The Myth, written in 1955, is a life "without reliance on eternal values." He believed that the appeal to God and religion is no longer credible, because in our time "absurdity" has come to the fore.

Absurdity overtakes us as a feeling that, according to Camus, can seize a person "at any crossroads." A person "feels like a stranger, an outsider" - even to himself. This feeling arises when the world collides with the demands that we make as rational beings. Camus explains that absurdity arises at the intersection of "human need and the unreasonable silence of the world." We ask thousands of "why?" and we don't get an answer. We are looking for solutions, but instead we awaken the absurdity, because thought does not affirm something before it clearly denies what has been affirmed. "Absurdity," wrote Camus, "depends not only on the world, but also on man." Thus, in asking the question about the meaning of life, we are aware that the demand for an answer gives rise to a sense of absurdity. However, the thirst for rational answers must not disappear, even though it remains unquenched. Her presence makes us human.

If there were no human consciousness, then there would be no absurdity, says Camus. But it exists, and therefore the meaning that we take for granted disintegrates even before it is known. “It turns out that on the stage there is a representation of the collapse,” Camus notes. - Rise, tram, four hours in the office or factory, lunch, tram, four hours at work, sleep and Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday - always in the same rhythm - and this road is easier than easy to follow all the time. But one day the “why” is born, and everything is painted with a mixture of fatigue and amazement. The feeling of the absurd, Camus continues, is not identical with the "concept of the absurd." This feeling arises because "absurdity in its essence is a divorce." Absurdity is the result of the collision and separation of human consciousness and the world.

Convinced of the inevitability of the absurd, Camus insisted that existence implies "the absolute absence of hope". He did not see anything that would help him rise above the absurd. But death could put an end to it. So suicide becomes an alternative. Indeed, if existence is permeated with such painful absurdity, is it not correct to say that absurdity invites us to die and even commands suicide?

Camus answers with a resounding no. Far from being the solution to the problem, suicide is only a last resort. In fact, this is an unforgivable existential sin: “It is important for a person to die unreconciled,” Camus insisted, “and not of his own free will.” Suicide reinforces the denial of meaning, making it impossible to capitalize on the recognition that "absurdity matters only insofar as it is not recognized." The absurdity will not disappear if we declare that we refuse to die. On the contrary, he will remain. But Camus believed that in order to defeat the absurd, we must leave him alone. Paradoxically, he even recommends emphasizing the contemplation of the absurd, since "life will be much better if there is no meaning in it."

Camus argued that there is a logic that makes sense in the face of the absurd. “I want to know,” he wrote, “can I live with my knowledge and only with it ... I don’t know if the world has a transcendental meaning. But I know that this meaning is unknown to me and that it will not become known to me overnight. So, to hope that in this life one can go beyond the absurd is tantamount to philosophical suicide. It is impossible to remain honest by succumbing to the temptation of this hope. But at the same time, Camus understood that reason alone is not enough to convince us that he was right. In order to draw the conclusions that Camus expected from his logic of the absurd, willpower is needed. Among other things, we will have to decide why "there is so much stubborn hope in the human heart."

Sisyphus is the hero of the absurd. He loves life and hates death. He is condemned for his passions, but his greatness lies in the fact that he never gives up and is always honest. He accepts rock only to challenge it. In this way, he gives existence a meaning, a meaning that is not able to refute the absurd, but refuses to succumb to it. Sisyphus is a creator who creates meaning in circumstances that seem to deprive human life any meaning.

Camus wanted us all to learn to live the way Sisyphus lives. He talked at length about what could lead us in this direction, for example, artistic creativity However, in principle, each individual must find his own way out.

It is important to pay attention to the picture that ends the "Myth of Sisyphus". While it would be natural to focus on Sisyphus pushing his rock to the top of the hill, Camus asks us to think about Sisyphus reaching the top. He knows that the boulder will roll down - and it happens. But, heading down to roll it back, Sisyphus does not despair. He overcomes fate, despising it, and therefore, ends his book Camus, "we must imagine Sisyphus happy." Sisyphus sees clearly; he stopped hoping for deliverance. But, parting with hope, he created meaning - not only for himself, but by his example for others. Although existence will never satisfy us, life is meaningful if our determination makes it so.

"Rebellious Man"

From the existence of the absurd, Camus drew three conclusions: "my rebellion, my freedom, my passion." He made up his mind, and the love of life prompted him to challenge the absurd. In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus drew these conclusions while contemplating suicide. In the continuation of this work - The Rebellious Man (1951) - Camus expanded on his early themes. At this time, he was concerned about the problem of murder. The twentieth century has proven that history is a massacre saturated with miasma, injustice, man-made death. The absurd does not call for suicide, but perhaps, Camus wonders, does he legitimize murder?

Once again, Camus answers with a resounding no. If absurdity implies that everything is permitted, then it does not follow that nothing is forbidden. Based on the intuitive insight that the most authentic human response to the absurd is a protest against it, Camus emphasized that this challenge is essentially social and collective. Life is lived in the company of others. Absurdity enters existence not simply because one's private needs go unmet, but because so much destroys families and separates friends, destroys common experiences, robs human relationships of value. Therefore, instead of pushing for suicide or legitimizing murder, the absurdity leads to rebellion in the name of justice and human solidarity. “I rebel,” writes Camus, “therefore I exist.”

Here we, like Sisyphus, have to climb the mountain, since the rebellion preached by Camus is characterized by endurance. Speaking of endurance, Camus did not mean at all to say that our actions should be indecisive, impassive or sluggish. But he also did not want the rebel to turn into a revolutionary who so often kills life, pretending to save it. “The logic of the rebel,” Camus argued, “is to serve justice in such a way as not to increase existing injustice, to cherish plain language so as not to join the general lie, and to put - in spite of human misfortunes - on happiness. Camus was not a pacifist. He knew that sometimes the logic of rebellion even required the rebel to be killed. But the true rebel Camus will never say or do anything that could "legitimize murder, for rebellion is, in essence, a protest against death."

As if the task of rebellion is not difficult enough, Camus once again reminds us that the fate of Sisyphus does not by any means escape the rebellion. “A person can handle everything that needs to be done,” he wrote. - He is obliged to fix everything that can be fixed. And after this is done, children will die innocently even in a perfect society. Even the greatest efforts of man can only arithmetically reduce the suffering in the world. Perhaps everything would have been different if we had stood at the origins of the world, but at least “man is not the only one who deserves a reproach; He didn't start history." On the other hand, Camus added, "he is not completely innocent, because he continues it." Our task, concludes Camus, is “to learn to live and die and, while remaining human, refuse to become God.”

Bibliography

* A. Camus, Selected, M., 1969. A. Camus, From philosophical essays, "Questions of Literature", 1980, No. 2.
* A. Camus, Misunderstanding, “Modern. dramaturgy", 1985, No. 3.
* A. Camus, The myth of Sisyphus. Essay on the absurd. - In the book: Twilight of the Gods, Moscow, 1989.
* Velikovsky, SI., Facets of "unfortunate consciousness", Theatre, prose, philosophical essays, aesthetics of Albert Camus, M., 1973.
* Velikovsky, S.I., Philosophy of the "Death of God" and the Pantragic in French Culture of the 20th Century. - In Sat: Philosophy. Religion. Culture, M., 1982.
* Semenova, S., Metaphysics of art by A. Camus. - In: Theories, schools, concepts, c. 2, M., 1975.
* Kushkin, E.P., Albert Camus. Early years, L., 1982.
* Bree, G., Camus, New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1959.
* Bree, G., ed., Camus: A Collection of Critical Essays, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1962.
* Lottman, H.R., Albert Camus: A Biography, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, 1979.
* Masters, V., Camus: A Study, Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1974. O "Brien, C.C., Albert Camus of Europe and Africa, New York: Viking Press, 1970.
* Sprintzen, D., Camus: A Critical Examination, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988.
* Tarrow, S., Exile from the Kingdom: A Political Rereading of Albert Camus, University: University of Alabama Press, 1985.
* Wilhoite, F.H., Jr., Beyond Nihilism: Albert Camus's Contribution to Political Thought, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968.
* Woelfel, J.W., Camus: A Theological Perspective, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1975

Albert Camus may have fallen victim to the KGB (August 08, 2011, 03:31 pm | Text: Dmitry Tselikov | http://culture.compulenta.ru/626849/)

In 1960, French philosopher and writer Albert Camus died in a car accident. This happened just two years after he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

An unused train ticket from his Provencal home to Paris was found in Camus's pocket. The 46-year-old writer intended to return to the capital after the Christmas holidays with his wife Francine and twins Catherine and Jeanne. But friend and publisher Michel Gallimard offered to take him by car.

Facel Vega flew off the icy road at high speed and crashed into a tree. Camus died instantly, Gallimard a few days later. Along with the ticket, police found 144 pages of handwritten text titled The First Man, an unfinished novel based on Camus' Algerian childhood. The writer believed that this would be his best work.

The world intellectual beau monde was shocked by the ridiculous tragedy. For half a century it never occurred to anyone that this was not a simple accident, and now the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera suggested that ... Soviet secret services could be behind the incident. The author of the hypothesis is the Italian academician and poet Giovanni Catelli. He drew attention to the fact that in the Italian translation of the diary of the Czech poet and translator Jan Zabrana "My whole life" there is no fragment that is in the original.

The fragment reads: “I happened to hear something very strange from the mouth of a person who is extremely knowledgeable and has very reliable sources. According to him, the accident that cost the life of Albert Camus in 1960 was orchestrated by Soviet spies. They damaged a car's tire with some kind of intricate device that cut or blew a hole in the wheel at full speed. The order was given personally by Shepilov in response to a publication in Franc-tireur in March 1957, in which Camus unequivocally attacked him, accusing him of the Hungarian events. In that article, Camus called the suppression of the 1956 Hungarian uprising "the Shepilov massacre."

A year later, Camus once again stepped on the toes of Soviet power by publicly speaking in support of Boris Pasternak. Corriere della Sera concludes that the KGB had more than enough reason to seek to eliminate Camus.

If this is true, a new shock awaits the cultural world. Camus was considered not only an intellectual, but also a man of the people. Both anarchists and footballers participated in his funeral. It is extremely popular to this day: last year, French President Sarkozy tried (unsuccessfully) to move the remains of his beloved writer from the cemetery to the Pantheon, where the country usually buries its top celebrities. The public decided that it was better not to touch the remains: great person great not at all where his bones lie.

Olivier Todd, a former BBC correspondent and author of a biography of Camus, told the British Observer newspaper that while working in Soviet archives he did not come across any mention of a connection between the KGB and the death of the writer, although there was a lot of abomination there. “I thought that no news about the activities of the KGB and its successors would surprise me, but now, I must admit, I am stunned,” says Mr. Todd. However, he has something to throw into the fire of sensation: - There are many documents in the archives about how the KGB used the Czechs for dirty work. And yet, despite the fact that the KGB was capable of such a thing, I do not believe in this hypothesis.

Date of publication on the site: January 25, 2011.
Last modified: August 11, 2011.

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