Camus, Albert

French author, born in Algeria to French parents. Having lost his father early on, he was raised alone by the mother, who was illiterate and supported herself and her son working as a charwoman in Belcort, the working-class district of Alger. Despite hard childhood conditions and a delicate health, the young Camus got an opportunity to continue studies at high school and university thanks to the fact that his talent was noticed by some of his teachers. He studied philosophy and classical literature at the University of Alger, but was not allowed to start teaching due to his tuberculosis. Instead he worked with journalism, theatre work, and politics; together with a group on the radical left, he founded the Theâtre du travail (Worker’s Theatre), and he was a member of the communist party for two years in 1937-39.