In 1941, publisher André Malraux admired the manuscript of The Stranger, arguably Camus’ most famous novel, but was unable to print it. His problem was that in German-occupied France, a severe paper shortage meant there wasn’t enough paper to print it. [1]
The 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Albert Camus “for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times.”
Albert Camus was a French author, dramatist, journalist, and philosopher who received the award at the age of 44, being the second-youngest recipient in history (Rudyard Kipling won it at age 42). His works include The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Fall, and The Rebel.
Born in French Algeria, Camus spent his childhood in a poor neighbourhood and later attended the University of Algiers.
Camus’s first publication was a play written with three friends in 1936 and his first book was L’Envers et l’Endroit (Betwixt and Between, or The Wrong Side and the Right Side) published in 1937 when Camus was 24. His breakthrough came with the novel L’étranger (The Stranger), published in 1942 about the absurdity of life. His last novel, La Chute (The Fall), was published in 1956, and an unfinished autobiography, (Le Premier homme) The First Man, was published posthumously.
After WWII, Camus was a celebrity figure giving lectures around the world. Politically, he opposed Stalin and the Soviet Union because of their totalitarianism. He married twice but had many extramarital affairs. After receiving the Nobel Prize, he published his pacifist leaning views.
Camus died in January 1960 at age 46 in an auto accident.