Camus, Albert - short biography. Albert Camus - famous French writer and philosopher Albert Camus plays

French writer and thinker, Nobel Prize winner (1957), one of the brightest representatives of the literature of existentialism. In his artistic and philosophical work, he developed the existential categories of "existence", "absurdity", "rebellion", "freedom", "moral choice", "limiting situation", and also developed the traditions of modernist literature. Depicting a person in a "world without God", Camus consistently considered the positions of "tragic humanism". In addition to artistic prose, the author's creative heritage includes dramaturgy, philosophical essays, literary critical articles, publicistic speeches.

He was born on November 7, 1913 in Algiers, in the family of a rural worker who died from a severe wound received at the front in the First World War. Camus studied first at a communal school, then at the Algiers Lyceum, and then at the University of Algiers. He was interested in literature and philosophy, devoted his thesis to philosophy.

In 1935 he created the amateur Theater of Labor, where he was an actor, director and playwright.

In 1936 he joined the Communist Party, from which he was expelled already in 1937. In the same 1937, he published the first collection of essays, The Inside Out and the Face.

In 1938, the first novel, Happy Death, was written.

In 1940, he moved to Paris, but because of the German offensive, he lived and taught for some time in Oran, where he completed the story "The Outsider", which attracted the attention of writers.

In 1941 he wrote the essay "The Myth of Sisyphus", which was considered a programmatic existentialist work, as well as the drama "Caligula".

In 1943 he settled in Paris, where he joined the resistance movement, collaborated with the illegal newspaper Komba, which he headed after the resistance, which threw the occupiers out of the city.

The second half of the 40s - the first half of the 50s - a period of creative development: the novel The Plague (1947) appeared, which brought the author world fame, the plays The State of Siege (1948), The Righteous (1950), the essay Rebel man "(1951), the story "The Fall" (1956), the landmark collection "Exile and the Kingdom" (1957), the essay "Timely Reflections" (1950-1958), etc. The last years of his life were marked by a creative decline.

The work of Albert Camus is an example of a fruitful combination of the talents of a writer and a philosopher. For the formation of the artistic consciousness of this creator, acquaintance with the works of F. Nietzsche, A. Schopenhauer, L. Shestov, S. Kierkegaard, as well as with ancient culture and French literature, was of significant importance. One of the most important factors in the formation of his existentialist worldview was the early experience of discovering the proximity of death (while still a student, Camus fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis). As a thinker, he is attributed to the atheistic branch of existentialism.

Paphos, denial of the values ​​of bourgeois civilization, concentration on the ideas of the absurdity of being and rebellion, characteristic of the work of A. Camus, were the reason for his rapprochement with the pro-communist-minded circle of the French intelligentsia, and in particular with the ideologist of "left" existentialism J. P. Sartre. However, already in the post-war years, the writer went on a break with his former colleagues and comrades, because he had no illusions about the "communist paradise" in the former USSR and wanted to reconsider his relationship with "left" existentialism.

While still a novice writer, A. Camus drew up a plan for the future creative path, which was to combine the three facets of his talent and, accordingly, the three areas of his interests - literature, philosophy and theater. There were such stages - "absurd", "rebellion", "love". The writer consistently implemented his plan, alas, at the third stage, his creative path was cut short by death.

Camus, Albert (Camus, Albert) (1913-1960). Born November 7, 1913 in the Algerian village of Mondovi, 24 km south of the city of Bon (now Annaba), in the family of an agricultural worker. His father, an Alsatian by birth, died in the First World War. His mother, a Spaniard, moved with her two sons to Algiers, where Camus lived until 1939. In 1930, graduating from high school, he fell ill with tuberculosis, the consequences of which he suffered all his life. Becoming a student at the University of Algiers, he studied philosophy, interrupted by odd jobs.

Concerns about social problems led him to the Communist Party, but a year later he left it. He organized an amateur theater, from 1938 he took up journalism. Released in 1939 from military conscription for health reasons, in 1942 he joined the underground organization of the Resistance "Komba"; edited her illegal newspaper of the same name. Leaving in 1947 work in Combat, he wrote journalistic articles for the press, subsequently collected in three books under the general title Topical Notes (Actuelles, 1950, 1953, 1958).

Books (10)

Backside and face. Compositions

This book presents the philosophical legacy of the Nobel Prize winner Albert Camus.

The philosophy of Camus, like all good literature, is impossible to retell. You can talk to her, agreeing and objecting, but putting at stake not abstract arguments, but the experience of your own "existence", the metaphysical alignment of your fate, in which a wise and deep interlocutor will appear.

Caligula

"Caligula". The play, which has become a kind of creative manifesto of French existentialist literature - and still does not leave the stages of the whole world. A play in which, in the words of Jean Paul Sartre, "freedom becomes pain, and pain sets you free."

Years, decades have passed, but both literary critics and readers are still trying - each in his own way! — to comprehend the essence of the tragedy of the insane young emperor, who dared to look into the abyss of eternity...

The myth of Sisyphus

According to Homer, Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent of mortals. True, according to another source, he traded in robbery. I don't see a contradiction here. There are different opinions about how he became the eternal worker of hell. He was reproached primarily for his frivolous attitude towards the gods. He divulged their secrets. Aegipah, the daughter of Ason, was abducted by Jupiter. The father was surprised at this disappearance and complained to Sisyphus. He, knowing about the abduction, offered Asop help, on the condition that Asop would give water to the citadel of Corinth. He preferred the blessing of earthly waters to heavenly lightning. The punishment for this was hellish torment. Homer also tells that Sisyphus shackled Death.

The fall

Be that as it may, after a long study of myself, I have established the deep duplicity of human nature.

Digging through my memory, I realized then that modesty helped me to shine, humility to win, and nobility to oppress. I waged war by peaceful means and, showing disinterestedness, I achieved everything that I wanted. For example, I never complained that I was not congratulated on my birthday, that this significant date was forgotten; my acquaintances were surprised at my modesty and almost admired it.

Outsider

A kind of creative manifesto that embodies the image of the search for absolute freedom. "Outsider" denies the narrowness of the moral standards of modern bourgeois culture.

The story is written in an unusual style - short phrases in the past tense. The cold style of the author later had a huge impact on European authors of the second half of the 20th century.

The story reveals the story of a man who committed a murder, who did not repent, refused to defend himself in court and was sentenced to death.

The opening line of the book became famous, “My mother died today. Maybe yesterday, I don't know for sure. Bright work full of existence, which brought Camus worldwide fame.

Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 in Algiers, in the family of an agricultural worker. He was less than a year old when his father died on First World War. After the death of his father, Albert's mother suffered a stroke and became half-mute. Camus's childhood was very difficult.

In 1923, Albert entered the Lyceum. He was a bright student and was active in sports. However, after the young man fell ill with tuberculosis, the sport had to be abandoned.

After the lyceum, the future writer entered the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Algiers. Camus had to work hard to be able to pay his tuition. In 1934, Albert Camus married Simone Iye. The wife turned out to be a morphine drug addict, and the marriage with her did not last long.

In 1936, the future writer received a master's degree in philosophy. Just after receiving his diploma, Camus had an exacerbation of tuberculosis. Because of this, he did not stay in graduate school.

To improve his health, Camus went on a trip to France. He described his impressions of the trip in his first book, The Inside Out and the Face (1937). In 1936, the writer began work on his first novel, A Happy Death. This work was only published in 1971.

Camus very quickly gained a reputation as a major writer and intellectual. He not only wrote, but was also an actor, playwright, director. In 1938, his second book, Marriage, was published. At this time, Camus was already living in France.

During the German occupation of France, the writer took an active part in the resistance movement, he also worked in the underground newspaper "Battle", which was published in Paris. In 1940, the story "The Outsider" was completed. This piercing work brought the writer world fame. This was followed by the philosophical essay "The Myth of Sisyphus" (1942). In 1945, the play "Caligula" was released. In 1947, the novel The Plague appeared.

Philosophy of Albert Camus

Camus was one of the most prominent representatives existentialism. His books convey the idea of ​​the absurdity of human existence, which in any case will end in death. In early works ("Caligula", "The Stranger"), the absurdity of life leads Camus to despair and immorality, reminiscent of Nietzscheism. But in The Plague and subsequent books, the writer insists that a common tragic fate should give rise to a feeling of mutual compassion and solidarity in people. The goal of the personality is “to create meaning among the universal nonsense”, “to overcome the human lot, drawing within oneself the strength that one had previously sought outside”.

In the 1940s Camus became close friends with another prominent existentialist, Jean-Paul Sartre. However, due to serious ideological differences, the moderate humanist Camus broke with the communist radical Sartre. In 1951 came out a major philosophical work of Camus "The Rebellious Man", and in 1956 - the story "The Fall".

In 1957, Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize "for his enormous contribution to literature, highlighting the importance of the human conscience."

Camus' rhetoric is a separate issue that will probably remain wallowing in the closed tabletop of history until the end of his life. Camus within the framework of historicism is predictable, as is his path of becoming from the primary nihilistic to the final moralistic humanism of the level of the Self-taught de La Nausée, only the oxymoron of humanistic thought occurs when the humanist opens his mouth, the same happened with Camus.

“The content of the Plague is the struggle of the European Liberation Movement against fascism,” according to Camus, but as soon as this idea is revealed, Camus’ Plague sharply turns into a tumor of Camus himself, a malignant formation in the face of a brown infection that, under the threat of the occupying authorities, took up arms and went against its own countries, the continent and beyond the Soviet Union, Camus lost the idea that collaborationism flourished, and liberation movements were really active only in Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece, one has only to look at the figures of resistance losses and it will be clear that even vaunted Poland did not make any contribution to the real struggle against the occupying authorities, rather, on the contrary, supporting Russophobia and anti-Semitism, she was only glad that the Ivanovs left their country. But one has only to look at the foreign voluntary formations of the Wehrmacht and the SS, and the situation immediately becomes clear, because collective resistance in reality turned out to be only one plague - red, with the assistance of another.

Camus, a former Eurocommunist of 35 and an associate of the ideas of socialism, the world revolution and lustrations according to Marx, the death of the individual and the praise of dead leaders, once a person who allegedly denies the individual meaning of human life becomes an inveterate humanist and just a wonderful person who criticizes Sartre for being a communist and supports freedom through a revolution, although he himself was the same two days ago, but maybe he didn’t read Marx, therefore he doesn’t know about the revolution as a natural process, oh, those French commi mods. And he completes his metamorphoses towards progressive man with his Plague.

The idealization and romanticization of Camus resistance is directly related to his participation in such during Ww2, it’s only a pity that these organizations up to 43 years only did what they fought with each other, not wanting to take a position and sat printing newspapers, unlike Yugoslav, whose resistance was called the People's Liberation War of Yugoslavia, during which 400 thousand partisans were killed, but 20 thousand dead French from the resistance, apparently according to Camus, are stronger against this background, if only he were reminded that 8 thousand more French died fighting for Hitler, as and the majority of Europeans, who not only did not want to resist, but even more, took up arms and willingly went into battle with the Germans for the liberation of Europe and Russia. And then Camus betrays the fact that the novel turns out to be not only about fascism and totalitarianism, but about the whole being as a whole, well then, okay, the idiot thought, it turned out to be a philosopher. Any argument of a humanist is an inflated childish opinion generalized from reality, which the humanist himself seems quite reasonable and kind, to the point of voicing this thought and not accepting or ignoring this rhetoric by the interlocutor.

Such characters as Rie are caricatured and idealized Pavlik Morozovs, who, if they existed in life, they were so zealously revered by the same post-war romantic humanists as Camus, not real people of resistance, because the main task of resistance is liberation from oppression at any cost, life they cost nothing, but for Camus it is a whole manifesto of a partisan and a rebel, the hope of an empty soul of a European man. The pathos with which he brings all this as a person who calmly traveled around Europe during the occupation, while others fought, and then, under the auspices of an imaginary battle, sat and occasionally printed waste paper in order to later, at the end of the war, issue this manifesto of a moralistic partisan of a humanistic persuasion. Bravo, Albert A real soldier Camus.

Man is an unstable being. He has a sense of fear, hopelessness and despair. At least, this is the view expressed by the adherents of existentialism. Close to this philosophical doctrine 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. Albert Camus had very painful childhood memories. The biography of this writer is closely connected with his life. However, for each poet or prose writer, their own experiences serve as a source of inspiration. But in order to understand the cause of the depressive mood that prevails 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' father was a poor man. He was engaged in hard physical labor at a winery. His family was on the brink of disaster. But when 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 army, had tragic consequences for the fate of the future writer. During the Battle of the Marne, Camus' 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 "Inside Out and Face" are dedicated to a childhood spent in need. In addition, during these years, young Camus suffered from tuberculosis. Unbearable conditions and a serious illness did not discourage the future writer from striving for knowledge. After leaving school, he entered the university at the Faculty of Philosophy.

Youth

Years of study at the University of Algiers had a huge impact on Camus' worldview. During this period, he made friends with the once famous essayist Jean Grenier. It was during his student years that the first collection of short stories was created, which was called "Islands". For some time he was a member of the Communist Party of Albert Camus. His biography, nevertheless, is more connected 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 played sports. Then, after graduating from university, 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 Fyodor 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, Albert Camus led a rather active social and creative activity.

"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. The 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. Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize for this novel. The wording - "For the important role of literary works that confront people with the problems of modernity with penetrating seriousness."

The plague starts suddenly. Residents of the city leave their homes. But not all. There are townspeople who believe that the epidemic is nothing but punishment from above. And don't run. You have to be humble. One of the heroes - the pastor - is an ardent supporter of this position. But the death of an innocent boy forces him to rethink 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 can 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 main philosophical idea of ​​this writer is, one should read one of his novels. In order to feel the mood that prevailed in the early years of the war among thinking people, it is worth getting acquainted with the novel The Plague, which Albert wrote in 1941 from this work - 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."

outlook

At the center of the French writer's work is the consideration of the absurdity of human existence. The only way to deal with him, according to Camus, is to recognize him. 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 evil cannot be defeated completely. Violence breeds more violence. And 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 "The Plague".

"Outsider"

At the beginning of the war, Albert Camus wrote many essays and stories. Briefly it is worth saying about the story "The Outsider". This work is quite difficult to understand. But it is precisely in it that the author's opinion regarding the absurdity of human existence is reflected.

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

The hero of the story is a man in a sense inferior. Its main feature is indifference. He is indifferent to everything: to the death of his mother, to someone else's grief, to his own moral decline. And only before his death, pathological indifference to the world around him leaves him. And it is at this moment that the hero realizes that he cannot escape the indifference of the world around him. He is sentenced to death for the murder he committed. And all he dreams about in the last minutes of his life is not to see indifference in the eyes of people who will watch his death.

"The 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 of Camus has little in common with the biblical one.

In The Fall, the author uses a technique characteristic of the Impressionists. The story is told in the form of a stream of consciousness. The hero tells about his life to the interlocutor. At the same time, he tells about the sins that he committed, without a shadow of regret. Jean-Baptiste personifies the selfishness and scarcity of the inner world of the Europeans, the writer's contemporaries. 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 this or that philosophical issue. As in other works of art by Albert Camus, in the center of the plot of the story "The Fall" is a man of an unusual psychological warehouse, which allows the author to reveal in a new way the eternal problems of being.

After the war

In the late forties, Camus became a freelance journalist. He permanently stopped public activities in any political organizations. During this time he created several dramatic works. The most famous of them are "Righteous", "State of Siege".

The theme of the rebellious personality in the literature of the 20th 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 trend was Albert Camus. His books, written back in the early fifties, are imbued with a sense of disharmony and a sense of despair. "The Rebellious Man" is a work that the writer devoted to the study of 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 left-wing radicals. In his articles, he repeatedly raised the topic of violence and authoritarianism of the Soviet regime.

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 set up by members of the Soviet secret service. However, this version was later refuted by Michel Onfret, the author of the writer's biography.