Man is an unstable being. He has a feeling of fear, hopelessness and despair. At least, such an opinion was expressed by the adherents of existentialism. Close to this philosophical teaching was Albert Camus. The biography and career of the French writer is the topic of this article.
Childhood
Camus was born in 1913. His father was a native of Alsace, and his mother was Spanish. Alber Camus had very painful childhood memories. The biography of this writer is closely related to his life. However, for each poet or prose writer, his own experiences serve as a source of inspiration. But in order to understand the cause of the depressive mood prevailing in the books of the author, which will be discussed in this article, one should learn a little about the main events of his childhood and adolescence.
Camus's father was a poor man. He was engaged in hard physical labor at a winery. His family was on the verge of disaster. But when at the beginning of the First World War a significant battle took place near the Marne River, the life of Camus Sr.'s wife and children became completely hopeless. The fact is that this historical event, although it was crowned with the defeat of the enemy German troops, had tragic consequences for the fate of the future writer. During the Battle of Marne, Camus' father died.
Left without a breadwinner, the family was on the verge of poverty. This period is reflected in his early work Albert Camus. The books “Marriage” and “Inside Out and Face” are dedicated to childhood spent in need. Moreover, during these years, young Camus suffered from tuberculosis. Unbearable conditions and a serious illness did not discourage the desire for knowledge from the future writer. After graduation, he entered the university at the Faculty of Philosophy.
Youth
Years of study at the University of Algeria had a huge impact on Camus's worldview. During this period, he made friends with the famous essayist Jean Grenier. It was in his student years that the first storybook was created, which was called the “Islands”. For some time he was a member of the Communist Party Albert Camus. His biography, nevertheless, is more connected with such names as Shestov, Kierkegaard and Heidegger. They belong to thinkers whose philosophy has largely determined the main theme of Camus' work.
An extremely active person was Albert Camus. His biography is saturated. As a student, he went in for sports. Then, after graduation, he worked as a journalist and traveled a lot. The philosophy of Albert Camus was formed not only under the influence of contemporary thinkers. For some time he was fond of the work of Fedor Dostoevsky. According to some reports, he even played in an amateur theater, where he happened to play the role of Ivan Karamazov. During the capture of Paris, at the beginning of the First World War, Camus was in the French capital. He was not taken to the front due to a serious illness. But even in this difficult period, quite an active social and creative activity was conducted by Albert Camus.
"Plague"
In 1941, the writer gave private lessons, took an active part in the activities of one of the underground Parisian organizations. At the beginning of the war, Albert Camus wrote his most famous work. Plague is a novel that was published in 1947. In it, the author reflected the events in Paris occupied by German troops in a complex symbolic form. For this novel, Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize. The wording is “For the important role of literary works that pose to people the problems of modernity with penetrating seriousness.”
Content of the novel
The plague begins suddenly. Residents of the city leave their homes. But not all. There are citizens who believe that the epidemic is nothing but punishment from above. And do not run. It should be imbued with humility. One of the heroes - the pastor - is an ardent supporter of this position. But the death of an innocent boy makes him reconsider his point of view.
People are trying to escape. And the plague suddenly recedes. But even after the most terrible days are behind, the hero does not leave the thought that the plague may return again. The epidemic in the novel symbolizes fascism, which claimed millions of inhabitants of Western and Eastern Europe during the war years.
In order to understand what the basic philosophical idea of this writer is, one of his novels should be read. In order to feel the mood that reigned among the thinking people in the first years of the war, it is worth getting acquainted with the novel “Plague”, which was written by Albert Camus in 1941 . Quotes from this work are the sayings of an outstanding philosopher of the 20th century. One of them - "In the midst of disasters, you get used to the truth, namely, silence."
Worldview
At the center of the French writer’s work is a consideration of the absurdity of human existence. The only way to deal with him, according to Camus, is his recognition. The highest embodiment of the absurd is an attempt to improve society through violence, namely fascism and Stalinism. In the works of Camus, there is a pessimistic conviction that evil is completely impossible to defeat. Violence breeds even more violence. A rebellion against him cannot lead to anything good at all. It is this position of the author that can be felt while reading the novel "Plague".
"Outsider"
At the beginning of the war, many sketches and stories were written by Albert Camus. Briefly worth mentioning the story "Outsider." This work is quite difficult to understand. But it is in it that the author’s opinion regarding the absurdity of human existence is reflected.
The story "Outsider" is a kind of manifesto that Albert Camus proclaimed in his early work. Quotes from this work can hardly say anything. In the book, the hero’s monologue plays a special role, which is monstrously impartial to everything that happens around. “The sentenced must morally participate in the execution” - this phrase is perhaps the key.
The hero of the story is, in a sense, a man of inferiority. Its main feature is indifference. He is indifferent to everything: to the death of his mother, to another's grief, to his own moral fall. And only before death does pathological indifference to the surrounding world leave him. And it is at this moment that the hero realizes that the indifference of the world around him cannot be avoided. He was sentenced to death for the murder. And all that he dreams of in the last minutes of his life is not to see indifference in the eyes of the people who will watch him die.
"A fall"
This story was published three years before the death of the writer. The works of Albert Camus, as a rule, belong to the philosophical genre. “Fall” is no exception. In the story, the author creates a portrait of a man who is an artistic symbol of modern European society. The hero’s name is Jean-Baptiste, which is translated from French as John the Baptist. However, the character Camus has little to do with the biblical.
In The Fall, the author uses a technique characteristic of the impressionists. The narrative is in the form of a stream of consciousness. The hero tells his interlocutor about his life. At the same time, he tells about the sins that he committed, without a shadow of regret. Jean-Baptiste personifies the egoism and scarcity of the inner mental world of Europeans, contemporaries of the writer. According to Camus, they are not interested in anything other than achieving their own pleasure. The narrator is periodically distracted from his biography, expressing his point of view on a particular philosophical question. As in other works of art by Albert Camus, in the center of the story of the story “The Fall” is a man of unusual psychological makeup, which allows the author to uncover the eternal problems of life in a new way.
After the war
In the late forties, Camus became a freelance journalist. He permanently stopped public activity in any political organizations. At this time, he created several dramatic works. The most famous of them are “The Righteous”, “The State of Siege”.
The theme of the rebellious personality in the literature of the XX century was quite relevant. Disagreement of a person and his unwillingness to live according to the laws of society is a problem that worried many authors in the sixties and seventies of the last century. One of the founders of this literary movement was Albert Camus. His books, written back in the early fifties, are imbued with a sense of disharmony and a sense of despair. “Rebel Man” is a work that the writer devoted to the study of human protest against the absurdity of existence.
If in his student years Camus was actively interested in the socialist idea, in adulthood he became an opponent of leftist radicals. In his articles, he repeatedly raised the topic of violence and authoritarianism of the Soviet government.
Death
In 1960, the writer died tragically. His life was cut short on the road from Provence to Paris. As a result of a car accident, Camus died instantly. In 2011, a version was put forward according to which the death of the writer is not an accident. The accident was allegedly rigged by the Soviet secret service. However, this version was later refuted by Michel Honfre, the author of the writer’s biography.