Camus bio

Our Albert Camus biography is in three parts: 1913-43 covering his birth to the publication of The Stranger and Myth of Sisyphus; 1943-51 covering his work for Combat to the publication of The Plague; 1951-60 covering the furore over The Rebel, the aftermath and The Fall ending with Camus’s untimely death.

Use the links below to navigate the biography

Part one: 1913-43

  • Camus’s birth in Algiers
  • Louis Germain mentorship and school scholarship
  • Tuberculosis and move to Uncle Acault’s
  • First articles published
  • University of Algiers and Jean Grenier mentorship
  • Marriage to Simone Hié
  • Awarded teaching diploma, rejected on health grounds
  • Split with Hié
  • Joins then leaves Communist Party
  • Publishes The Wrong Side and Right Side
  • Co-founds Théâtre de l’Equipe theatre group
  • Takes job as court reporter
  • Writes powerful series on the poverty in Kabylia
  • Reviews Sartre’s Nausea and Le Mur
  • Outbreak of war, newspaper closed, Camus tries to enlist
  • Moves to Paris
  • Divorce comes through, marries Francine Faure
  • Falls ill, The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus published
  • Allied landing in North Africa cuts Camus off from Francine

Part two: 1943-51

  • Works for Gallimard as manuscript reader
  • Accepted into Parisian intellectual circle
  • Meets Maria Casares
  • Friendship with Sartre
  • Friendship breaks down
  • Works for the Resistance
  • Writes Letters to a German Friend
  • The Misunderstanding is performed
  • Liberation of Paris
  • Combat published openly, Camus becomes a household name
  • Reunited with Francine
  • All ties broken with Communists
  • Visit to New York
  • Publication of The Plague
  • Just Assassins performed
  • Visit to South America
  • Depressed by the success of The Plague

Part three: 1951-60

  • Publishes The Rebel
  • Francis Jeanson savages The Rebel in Sartre’s Journal
  • Camus and Sartre enter into public spat
  • Publishes essay collection Summer
  • Francine hospitalized, possibly attempts suicide
  • Camus returns to journalism
  • Publishes The Fall
  • Algerian troubles, Camus proposes Civilian Truce
  • Adapts Requiem for a Nun for the Stage
  • Publishes Reflections on the Guillotine
  • Publishes Exile and the Kingdom
  • Wins Nobel Prize
  • Adapts The Possessed for the stage
  • Buys home in Lourmarin
  • Less than a year to live
  • Spends Christmas with family and friends in Cannes
  • Killed in car accident on January 3rd, 1960
  • Camus’s briefcase contains unfinished manuscript of The First Man