Albert Camus was born in Mondovi, Algeria on November 7, 1913. Within a year of Camus' birth, his father was killed in Europe fighting at the first battle of the Marne. His mother moved the family to the Belcourt district of Algiers where they lived with her mother.

After primary school, and After taking a short break necessitated by a bout with tuberculosis, Camus continued his education at the University of Algiers. During this period, he supported himself by a wide variety of jobs which included giving private lessons, working for the Meteorological Institute, and selling spare parts for cars. It was also during this period that he, along with a number of other young left-wing intellectuals, founded the Théâtre du Travail in Algiers.

After earning a degree in philosophy, Camus relocated to Metropolitan France and took up journalism. In 1938, he accepted a post with the left-wing newspaper Alger-Républicain where he served alternately as sub-editor, social and political reporter, leader-writer, and book-reviewer. After World War II broke out, Camus used his literary talents to support the French Resistance, taking on the editorship of Combat, an important underground paper. After the war, however, he gave up politics and journalism and devoted himself to writing. He soon established an international reputation with such works as The Stranger (1942), The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), The Plague (1948), The Rebel (1951) and the fall (1956).

On January 4, 1960, Camus was killed in an automobile accident while returning to Paris with his friend and publisher Michel Gallimard. He was only forty-six years old and had written as recently as 1958, "I continue to be convinced that my work hasn't even been begun."