As part of A Classics Challenge, this month we’re asked to discuss the author that we’re currently reading. The first prompt is an overview of the author. Since I’m reading The Stranger, I present Albert Camus:
Albert Camus was born in 1913 into a Pied-Noir family, a term that refers to European colonists of French Algeria. Camus’ father died in WWI and he grew up in a poor neighborhood of Algiers with his mother. By working a series of odd jobs he was able to put himself through school at the University of Algiers. Camus went on to be a novelist, journalist, and philosopher.
He also appears to have been a smoker.
Camus believed in absurdism, the idea that humans are caught in a constant attempt to derive meaning from a meaningless world. He was also at various times in his life, a communist, anarchist, pacifist, and defender of human rights. Despite not believing in the institution of marriage, Camus was married twice.
Camus’ novels include The Stranger (1942), The Plague (1947), and The Fall (1956). His philosophical writings include The Myth of Sisyphus (1942) and The Rebel (1951). He also wrote many plays and essays. In 1957 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
He died in an automobile accident in 1960.
My husband bought me a copy of The Plague on Kindle, and when I went to download it, it wasn’t available for my country, and I was PISSED! I had never read Camus before, and that book was just calling to me. Now I need to find a print version, as that is the place I want to start with him. I love absurdist lit, and can’t wait to see what he does with it. Very cool spotlight today.
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I really enjoyed The Stranger, so I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it.
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I didn’t realize he’d only written three novels. I’ve read The Fall and The Stranger, the latter several times, and tried to read The Plague, but it was kind of yucky in a pestilence way, so I gave it up.
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I did read the Stranger. I liked it a lot. I am curious to get your thoughts on this also.
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I have some Camus on my shelves but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. Maybe this year!
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I’ve read The Stranger and The Plague and enjoyed them both very much. The Stranger I read for a class which sort of made me hate it at the time, but when the class was all said and done and the paper written, I realized that the book was pretty good.
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This is the kind of literature I feel like I need to read just to prove that I am serious about…something. I like the down and dirty bio. Sounds like he was a dabbler.
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I read The Stranger … in FRENCH!! (I was a French minor in college but you could never ever tell.) I focused so much on just understanding what I was reading that I’m sure all the philosophy was lost on me.
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I read The Plague a looooooong while ago. (I have a ‘thing’ for the black death…). I read it with roomies and mostly I remember that they were thrilled when I moved on to Harry Potter.
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I have only read The Plague, but I own a copy of The Stranger. I hope you like it. I had no clue he died in an automobile accident.
The photo really captures an amused yet intelligent look to the man.
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I think I read The Stranger in college, but I can’t remember! How ABSURD, eh? Hee. Maybe I should re-read.
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