Albert CamusSome info about him and his

novel The Stranger

Camus’s Life Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 in

Mondavi(modern day Drean), Algeria to a working class family

His mother was half-deaf and illiterate cleaning women, while his is father was a poor agricultural worker.

His father was draft into the French army and was KIA at the Battle of the Marne, September 1914

While in Belcourt elementary school, Camus’s intellectual talents was recognized by one of his instructors. Louis Germain would be thanked later at Camus’s Nobel Prize speech.

Camus would attend the University of Algiers’ school of philosophy full-time until in 1930 tuberculosis took his strength.

Life cont. Camus would attend the University of Algiers’

school of philosophy full-time until in 1930 tuberculosis took his strength.

While attending university, Camus played European football as a goalie for the university.

Financing for his love of learning, Camus took jobs such as working at a weather bureau, automobile accessory firm, and shipping company.

The majority of his writing is influenced greatly by poverty and illness of his youth. He wrote extensively about poverty in Algeria while working as a journalist.

Cont. In 1933 when Hitler rise to power, Camus joined

an anti-Fascist movement in Algiers. His first marriage was to Simone Hie 1934, it did

not go well since she was addicted to morphine since age 14 and her infidelities. The marriage lasted for 2 years.

His second marriage was with Francine Faure 1940, and they had twins 1944. Camus begins to make cultural visits to the US and South America for inspiration for his writings.

From 1935-1939, Camus and a group of young left-wing intellectuals, founded the Théâtre de l'Equipe(Workers' Theater).

Another slide The theater was not only art, but more of a political

expression, like the days of the Renaissance. It produces plays by literary greats such as Dostoevski

Camus was not only the writer but also an actor and stage director which gave him a unity of tone, style, and rhythm. Total Drama is what Camus calls it

Camus left Algiers 1940 for Paris but came back since the Germans were coming. Camus wrote openly against the European war endangering himself due to the political right’s rise to power.

Camus was “advised” to leave after he was declared a “threat to national security” after his writings were published

….next slide…. Camus was ineligible for the army so he turned

back to journalism. Ineligible due to tuberculosis 1943 Camus is in Paris and he now joins “Combat”

an underground newspaper for underground intelligence and sabotage. Many of his works were later put in a compilation.

During the war Camus published multiple works, primarily based on absurdism and existentialism. The Stranger(1942), The Myth of Sisyphus(1942), Cross Purpose(1944), Caligula(1944)

Yay another slide…… Camus published L'Homme Révolté (The Rebel)

1951 which showed the difference between a revolt and revolution, also attacked Hegel, Marxism, and Nihilism. Ended friendship with Jean-Paul Sartre

Camus remained an advocate for human rightsand was award ed the Nobel Prize in 1957 for Literature for his essay Réflexions Sur la Guillotine as an influential work on behalf of human rights.

Camus continued to work with theatre, with themes of human desires for understanding and its conflict with the absurd nature of existence. Absurdity

The end…? January 4, 1960, Camus is pronounced dead while

on his return to Paris along with his friend and publisher Michel Gallimard near Sens, France. Cause of death was car accident. The First Man, a fictionalized account of his family history was published 1995 after it was found in his papers.

It was not a result of drinking and driving….maybe water, definitely not texting and driving

Camus’s View on Religion Camus was raised as a Catholic. Because of his varied views, it is quite difficult to

point out Camus’s view on religion. Critics have labeled him as an “atheistic

humanist,” pagan, neopagan, “Christian pagan,” and secular saint.

Camus himself declared that having been born in a pagan land in a Christian era, he felt closer to the values of the ancient world than to Christian ones, he had seen Catholic religion in his youth as spiritually poor and linked primarily to a fear of death rather of a love of life

Religious Views Cont. Camus respected Christian faith, but refused to

accept its supernatural elements or concept of human sin.

Camus had faith in whatever helped him most freely to live the life of the flesh and mind.

The morality Camus chose was based on the respect for human life and for the individual

He lived with, as he called it, a holiness without God.

Historical Context of the Novel There is no relation to the external world of history

or politics. First inspiration for The Stranger was conceived in

August 1937 and it was not completed until May 1940. The novel was published in 1942, there seems to be a lot going on in five years.

Before Camus even thought of the novel, Camus took notice of the changes happening worldwide, especially Hitler coming to power

Camus joined the communist party since the party oppose fascism , which Camus detested

Camus chose to write in a somewhat abstract mode making the setting almost incidental.

Camus facts There are some autobiographical elements, but should

not be overstressed. Camus never shot a stranger in cold blood or was

arrested for such crime. Camus never attended his mother’s funeral, she

outlived him. Meursault is modeled in some respect to Camus for

Camus’s love of the sun and sea, easy charm with women, and macho attitude. Also worked in a shipping company. Meursault never knew his father as Camus never knew his father too.

Camus included the execution of a man he saw that parallels with Meursault’s father who saw an execution

Few mo things The silence Meursault speaks with mother

parallels with Camus since Camus’s mother was deaf

Camus’s family name of Cardona and Sintes were included in the novel by Marie Cardona and Raymond Sintes

The passage in chapter 2 when Meursault is observing the streets came from Camus’s notes that he took of his own neighborhood in Algiers

Side notes Indifferent to religious values. People

turned against him for his refusal to believe in God. Arguments with the chaplain.

Indifferent to philosophical values. Doesn’t follow the ordinary, doesn’t mourn over his mother’s death. He is looked down upon because of that