Albert Camus

The Stranger (1942) tells the story of Meursault, a French Algerian who kills an unnamed Arab man on a beach and is condemned at trial as much for his emotional detachment as for the murder itself. The novel is a foundational text of absurdist philosophy, exploring the tension between human beings' desire for meaning and the universe's silence.

Camus articulated his absurdist philosophy most fully in the essay The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), arguing that humans seek inherent meaning in a universe that offers none. Rather than despair or suicide, he advocated for defiant acceptance—what he called 'revolt'—finding purpose in the act of living fully despite life's fundamental absurdity.

Camus publicly refused the label of existentialist, disagreeing with Jean-Paul Sartre over the role of historical meaning, individual freedom, and the nature of revolt. Their famous public dispute in 1952—sparked by Camus's book The Rebel—ended their friendship permanently and marked a major intellectual rift in postwar French thought.

Camus died on January 4, 1960, at age 46, in a car accident near Sens, France, when the Facel Vega driven by his publisher Michel Gallimard crashed into a tree. Among Camus's possessions was an unused train ticket—he had reportedly accepted the ride at the last minute.