SO SAYS DR. BERNARD RIEUX in Albert Camus’s 1947 novel The Plague. Rieux continues: “Heroism and sanctity don’t really appeal to me, I imagine. What interests me is being a man.” With characters like Rieux—a doctor doing his best to treat victims of a mysterious plague—Albert Camus (1913–1960) explored mankind’s noble but hopeless struggle against suffering and death. His novels, including The Plague and The Stranger (1942), explore his philosophy of the “absurd”: the impossible task of finding meaning in human existence. If you’re no stranger to Camus, take this quick quiz to test your knowledge.
TRUE OR FALSE?
1. Camus grew up in the French colony of Martinique.
2. As a student, Camus was an excellent soccer player and dreamed of playing professionally.
3. Camus based his famous essay about absurdity on the Greek myth of Icarus, who drowned after flying too close to the sun with wings made of wax.
4. Because he believed that life was inherently meaningless, Camus was politically apathetic and practiced disengagement from political affairs.
5. Camus believed in suicide and took his own life.
6. Camus was the second-youngest winner of the Noble Prize in Literature.
ANSWERS
1. False. Camus was born and raised in Algeria, where many of his stories and novels are set. The term for French nationals in Algeria was pied-noir, meaning “black foot.”
2. True. He played goalie but gave up this dream when he contracted tuberculosis.
3. False. Camus wrote about Sisyphus, who was condemned by the gods to push a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll down again, for eternity. The essay, which likened human life to Sisyphus’s punishment, was called “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942).
4. False. During World War II, Camus was a member of the French Resistance and published the underground newspaper Combat. He did not, however, support Algerian independence.
5. False. He died in a car accident and did not advocate suicide.
6. True. When he won in 1957, he was second youngest after Rudyard Kipling. Camus was the first winner born in Africa.