French writer Albert Camus: biography, creativity

Man is an unstable being. He has a sense of fear, hopelessness and despair. At least, such an opinion was expressed by adherents of existentialism. Close to this philosophical teaching was Albert Camus. The biography and creative path 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. Almost burdensome memories of childhood had Albert Camus. The biography of this writer is closely related to his life. However, for each poet or prose writer the source of inspiration is his own experience. But in order to understand the cause of the depressive mood prevailing in the author's books, which will be discussed in this article, one should learn a little about the main events of his childhood and adolescence.

Father Camus was a poor man. He was engaged in heavy physical labor at the winery. His family was on the brink of disaster. But when in the beginning of the First World War near the Marne River there was a significant battle, the life of the wife and children of Camus the elder became completely hopeless. The fact is that this historical event, although crowned with the defeat of the enemy German army, had tragic consequences for the fate of the future writer. During the battle of Marne, Camus's father died.

Left without a breadwinner, the family was on the verge of poverty. This period was reflected in his early work by Albert Camus. The books "Marriage" and "Wrong and Face" are devoted to childhood spent in need. In addition, in those years, young Camus suffered from tuberculosis. Unbearable conditions and a serious illness did not discourage the future writer from striving for knowledge. After graduation, he entered the university at the Faculty of Philosophy.

Youth

Years of study at the University of Algeria have had a tremendous impact on Camus's worldview. During this period, he brought a friendship with the well-known essayist Jean Grenier. It was during the student years that the first collection of short stories was created, which was called the "Islands". For some time he was a member of the Communist Party Albert Camus. His biography, nevertheless, is associated more with such names as Shestov, Kierkegaard and Heidegger. They belong to thinkers, whose philosophy largely determined the main theme of Camus's work.

Albert Camus was an extremely active person. His biography is rich. As a student, he practiced sports. Then, after graduating from university, he worked as a journalist and traveled a lot. Philosophy of Albert Camus was formed not only under the influence of contemporary thinkers. For some time he was fond of the work of Fyodor Dostoyevsky. According to some reports, he even played in the 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 because of a serious illness. Almost in this difficult period, Albert Camus was quite active in social and creative activities.

"Plague"

In 1941, the writer gave private lessons, took an active part in the activities of one of the underground Paris 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 events in Paris, occupied by German troops, in a complex symbolic form. For this novel, Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize. The wording - "For the important role of literary works, which put people's problems of modernity with a keen seriousness."

The 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 a punishment from above. And do not run. Humility must be imbued. One of the heroes - the pastor - is an ardent supporter of such a position. But the death of an innocent boy forces him to reconsider his point of view.

People are trying to escape. And the plague suddenly recedes. But even after the most terrible days behind, the hero does not leave the thought that the plague can return again. The epidemic in the novel symbolizes fascism, which took millions of inhabitants of Western and Eastern Europe during the war years.

In order to understand what is the main philosophical idea of this writer, you should read one of his novels. In order to feel the mood that prevailed in the first years of the war among people thinking, it is worth to get acquainted with the novel "Plague", which in 1941, Albert Camus wrote. Quotations 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, to silence."

Worldview

At the center of the French writer's work is the consideration of the absurdity of human existence. The only way to deal with it, according to Camus, is his confession. The highest embodiment of absurdity is an attempt to improve society through violence, namely fascism and Stalinism. In the works of Camus, there is a pessimistic belief that it is completely impossible to defeat evil. Violence breeds even more violence. A riot against him and nothing good can not lead. It is this position of the author that can be felt during the reading of the novel "Plague."

"Stranger"

At the beginning of the war, Albert Camus wrote many essays and stories. Briefly it is necessary to say about the story "Stranger". This work is quite difficult to perceive. But it reflects the author's opinion about the absurdity of human existence.

The story "Stranger" is a kind of manifesto, which Albert Camus proclaimed in his early work. Quotations from this work can hardly say anything. In the book a special role is played by the monologue of the hero, which is monstrously impartial to everything that happens around. "The sentenced is obliged to participate morally in execution" - this phrase, perhaps, is key.

The hero of the story is a man in a certain sense inferior. 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 his death he leaves pathological indifference to the world around him. And it is at this moment the hero realizes that the indifference of the world around him can not be avoided. He was sentenced to death for murder. And all he dreams about in the last moments of his life is not to see indifference in the eyes of people who will watch his death.

"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. "Falling" is no exception. In the story, the author creates a portrait of a person who is an artistic symbol of modern European society. The hero's name is Jean-Baptiste, which in translation from French is John the Baptist. However, the character Camus has little to do with the biblical.

In The Fall, the author uses a technique typical of the Impressionists. The narrative is in the form of a stream of consciousness. The hero talks about his life to the interlocutor. In doing so, he narrates about the sins that he committed, without a shadow of regret. Jean-Baptiste personifies the selfishness and scarcity of the inner peace of mind of Europeans, contemporaries of the writer. According to Camus, they are not interested in anything other than to achieve their own pleasure. The narrator periodically distracts from his life, expressing his point of view relative to one or another philosophical question. As in other works of Albert Camus, in the center of the plot of the story "Fall" - a man of unusual psychological makeup, which allows the author to reveal a new age-old problems of being.

After the war

At the end of the forties, Camus became an independent journalist. Public activity in any political organizations he permanently ceased. At this time he created several dramatic works. The most famous of them are "Righteous", "Siege position".

The theme of the rebellious personality in the literature of the 20th century was quite relevant. The disagreement of man 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 trend was Albert Camus. His books, written in the early fifties, are imbued with a sense of disharmony and a sense of despair. "Revolting person" is a work that the writer devoted to investigating a person's protest against the absurdity of existence.

If in his student years Camus was actively interested in the socialist idea, then in adulthood, he became an opponent of the left radicals. In his articles he repeatedly raised the topic of violence and authoritarianism of the Soviet authorities.

Death

In 1960, the writer died tragically. His life was cut short on the road from Provence to Paris. As a result of the 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 set up by members of the Soviet special services. However, this version was later disproved by Michel Onfre, the author of the biography of the writer.