Albert Camus was born in 1913 in Algeria to a family of modest origins, his father is a workman and his mother is illiterate and partly deaf in households.  On the death of his father in 1914, Albert and his brother went to fight like zouave and were taken in by their grandmother and two uncles. Brilliant student, he studied philosophy as a fellow in Algiers. In the 1930s, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which often led to his treatment. He began writing for the theatre and in the press, while initially being politically engaged alongside the Communists.

Returning to France in 1940, Albert Camus joined the resistance and collaborated with the newspaper Combat. He began to work on his three works in the cycle of the absurd: “The Stranger” (a novel), “The Myth of Sisyphus” (an essay) and “Calligula” (a play).  Its editorial success was confirmed with the release in 1947 of his novel “The Plague” which found particular resonance during the Covid pandemic of 2020.

A committed intellectual, Camus participated in all the battles of his time, the publication in 1951 of “The Revolted Man” marked his break with Sartre and the Marxist current.

In 1957, Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died on January 4, 1960 at the age of 47 in a car accident. The 200-horsepower sports car, a Facel Vega, driven by its publisher Michel Gallimard, crashes into a plane tree. In the back, the publisher’s wife and daughter are unharmed. Albert Camus dies instantly. Michel Gallimard died six days later from his injuries.

Probably a puncture. Definitely too fast. Investigators estimate the vehicle was travelling at 150 kilometres per hour. In Albert Camus’s binder we discover his unfinished autobiography, “The First Man”.

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