Albert Camus: Life
Albert Camus (1913-1960)
Born in a small village in Algeria of a
French father & a Spanish mother; he
spent most of his early life in the city of
Algiers.
Algeria became a French colony in 1848.
A war for independence began in 1954
and lasted until 1962.
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 1
Albert Camus: Life
His father was killed in WWII.
His mother supported herself and her two
sons doing cleaning.
Won a scholarship to the local lycée
(college preparatory school)
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 2
Albert Camus: Life
In 1930, at the age of seventeen, suffered
an attack of tuberculosis. Affected his
health for the remainder of his life.
Attended the University of Algiers
between 1932 and 1936 where he studied
philosophy.
Married in 1933; lasted briefly.
In 1934, joined the Community Party; left
the Party a few years later.
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 3
Albert Camus: Life
Joined a theatrical company from 1935 to
1939.
Then decided to become a journalist.
Worked first for the Alger-Républicain;
then moved to Paris and worked for Paris-
Soir.
With the invasion of France in 1940, he
with the staff of Paris-Soir moved to
Lyons.
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 4
Albert Camus: Life
Albert Camus in
the late 1930s
with his
colleagues at
the Alger
Républicain
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 5
Albert Camus: Life
In Lyons, in 1940, he married Francine
Faure
In 1941, for reasons of health, he moved
to Oran and then Algiers.
Suffered another attack of tuberculosis in
1942. Went to the mountains of central
France to recover.
The allied landings cut him off from his
wife, who had remained in Oran.
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 6
Albert Camus: Life
1942 - published L’Etranger & in 1943, Le
Mythe de Sysyphe.
These two works brought him fame
1943 - he joined the resistance and
became the editor of the movements
newspaper, Combat
September 1945 - birth of twins, Jean &
Catherine
1946 - lecture tour of the United States
1947 - publication of La Peste
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 7
Albert Camus: Life
Camus in 1944, at
age 31
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 8
Albert Camus: Life
1950 - L’Homme révolté - a collection of
essays expressing his political philosophy;
strongly anti-Marxist (see the character
Tarrou in The Plague)
1956 - publication of La Chute
1957 - awarded the Nobel prize for
literature
1960 - killed in an automobile accident
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 9
Albert Camus: Life
Camus & his wife,
Francine,
December 1957,
Stolkholm.
Reception on the
occasion of the
Nobel prize.
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 10
Background: Existentialism
Background to The Plague
Existentialism
Historical roots
• Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
 Theme of the necessity of making
decisions in the face of
inadequate knowledge--e.g.,
choice of spouse, religious
commitment
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 11
Background: Existentialism
 This brings with it deep anxiety.
This anxiety is “the dizziness of
freedom which occurs when
freedom looks down into its own
possibility.”
 We touch reality most deeply at
times of painful decision.
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 12
Background: Existentialism
• Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
 The theme of the death of God &
the resulting disorientation &
experience of nothingness
(meaninglessness).
 “Have you not heard of that
madman who lit a lantern in the
bright morning hours, ran to the
market place, and cried [more]
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 13
Background: Existentialism
 incessantly, ‘I seek God! I seek
God!’ . . . ‘Whither is God’ he
cried. ‘I shall tell you. We have
killed him--you and I. All of us
are his murderers. But how have
we done this? How were we able
to drink up the sea? Who gave us
the sponge to wipe away the
entire horizen? What did we do
when we unchained this [more]
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 14
Background: Existentialism
 earth from its sun? Whither is it
moving now? Whither are we
moving now? Away from all suns?
Are we now plunging continually?
Backward, sideward, forward, in
all directions? Is there any up or
down left? Are we not straying
as through an infinite nothing? . .
. God is dead. . . . And we [more]
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 15
Background: Existentialism
 have killed him. . . . Is not the
greatness of this deed too great
for us? Must not we ourselves
become gods simply to seem
worthy of it?’” (from The Gay
Science, 1882)
 What kind of a statement is
Nietzsche’s declaration of the
death of God?
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 16
Background: Existentialism
 One can overcome the
meaninglessness brought about by
the death of God by an act of
will--a superhuman effort of will.
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 17
Background: Existentialism
Existentialism is a European school of
philosophy which begins with the
publication of Martin Heidegger’s (18891976) Being and Time in 1927 & lasted
into the 1960s.
• Some leading Existentialists
 Martin Buber (Israeli, 1878-1965)
 Jean Paul-Sartre (French, 19051980)
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 18
Background: Existentialism
 Simone de Beauvoir (French,
1908-1986)
 The word Existentialism -concern with the concrete, the
individual, & the unique vs
essentialism - concern with the
universal, the general.
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 19
Background: Existentialism
• The principal themes of
Existentialism (6)
• 1. The primacy of the individual
 Rejection of all attempts at a
universal definition of humanness.
 Description of specific moods &
feelings.
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 20
Background: Existentialism
• 2. Critique of reason & an emphasis
on will
 Western philosophy has been
dominated by reason to the
neglect of will & feelings.
 Miguel de Unamuno (Spanish,
1864-1936): “Man is said to be a
reasoning animal. I do not know
why he has not been defined as
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 21
Background: Existentialism
 an effective or feeling animal.
Perhaps what differentiates him
from other animals is feeling
rather than reason.”
 On the most important issues of
life, one must often make a choice
(act of the will) which goes beyond
reason (a Kierkegaardian theme).
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 22
Background: Existentialism
 Nietzsche interpreted Socrates
as a villain of Western thought
because of his emphasis on reason
over the tragic view of life as
expressed in Greek drama.
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 23
Background: Existentialism
• 3. An emphasis on will, choice
 Sartre: Humans are free to
choose their nature. Humans
make themselves through their
choices.
 Kierkegaard: religious faith
requires a leap of faith
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 24
Background: Existentialism
• 4. Inauthentic ways of living
 Living entirely according to
routine and according to roles
 Lossing one’s uniqueness &
individuality
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 25
Background: Existentialism
 What is living authentically? The
Existentialists were reluctant to
answer this question with a
specific position. Minimally, it
means self-awareness, especially
on the level of feeling. Cf.
Socrates’ “the unexamined life is
not worth living.”
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 26
Background: Existentialism
• 5. Boundary situations
 Special events which break one
out of routine and roles
 These are an opportunity for
reflection and change
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 27
Background: Existentialism
• 6. Encounter with nothingness
 A deep sense of the
meaninglessness of life
Albert Camus: life & Existentialism - 28