Albert Camus – 20th-century French writer and philosopher, author of The Stranger and The Plague, Nobel Prize winner in 1957. His concept of the “absurd” became central to existentialism. Camus was also a journalist, Resistance member, and theatre director.
📚 His essay The Myth of Sisyphus laid the foundation for the philosophy of the absurd. 🎭 A passionate theatre lover, he founded the “Théâtre du Travail” in Algiers. 📰 He worked as a journalist, writing on poverty and injustice in the colonies. ✒️ Camus distanced himself from Marxism and broke with Sartre over politics. ⚽ In youth he dreamed of being a goalkeeper, but lung disease ended that hope. 🌍 Born in Algeria, North Africa profoundly shaped his writing. 📖 His books were banned in Franco’s Spain. 🏆 He won the Nobel Prize at 44 – one of the youngest laureates ever. 🚗 He died in a car crash; in his pocket was an unused train ticket. 😲 Curious: in his diary he wrote he “always wanted to be happy, not a genius.” 😂 Funny: he joked that goalkeepers and philosophers are alike – both always wait for the blow.