Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French writer, journalist, and philosopher whose novels and essays examined absurdity, freedom, revolt, and moral responsibility.
Absurdism: A philosophical outlook on the conflict between humanity’s search for meaning and an indifferent universe. Camus made this conflict central to works such as The Myth of Sisyphus.
The Stranger: Camus’s 1942 novel about Meursault, an emotionally detached French Algerian convicted of murder. Its trial dramatizes social judgment, emotional convention, and the absurd.
Jean-Paul Sartre: A French philosopher, novelist, and playwright associated with existentialism and committed political engagement. His break with Camus exposed their disagreement over revolutionary violence and political responsibility.
Algiers: The capital city of Algeria, situated on the Mediterranean coast. Camus was born and educated in Algiers, which figures in several major works.
Nobel Prize in Literature: An annual international literary award established by the will of Alfred Nobel. Camus received the 1957 prize for work that illuminated human conscience and its dilemmas.
The Myth of Sisyphus: Camus’s 1942 philosophical essay on suicide, the absurd, and how to live without ultimate meaning. It gives the clearest sustained account of his philosophy of the absurd.
The Plague: Camus’s 1947 novel depicting an epidemic in the Algerian city of Oran and its effects on residents. Its characters embody solidarity and duty amid suffering without guaranteed meaning.
Simone de Beauvoir: A French writer and philosopher whose work addressed freedom, ethics, and women’s lives. She shared Sartre’s intellectual circle and later described the rupture between Sartre and Camus.
Pied-noir: A term for Europeans, especially French settlers, who lived in colonial Algeria before independence. Camus belonged to this community, complicating his position on Algerian independence.
Existentialist literature: Literary works that explore existence, freedom, responsibility, and the absence of predetermined meaning. Camus’s novels helped make philosophical questions vivid through ordinary lives and choices.