The unfinished manuscript of The First Man was discovered in the wreckage of car accident in which Camus died in 1960. Although it was not published for over thirty years, it was an instant bestseller when it finally appeared in 1994. The 'first man' is Jacques Cormery, whose poverty-stricken childhood in Algiers is made bearable by his love for his silent and illiterate mother, and by the teacher who transforms his view of the world. The most autobiographical of Camus's novels, it gives profound insights into his life and ...
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The unfinished manuscript of The First Man was discovered in the wreckage of car accident in which Camus died in 1960. Although it was not published for over thirty years, it was an instant bestseller when it finally appeared in 1994. The 'first man' is Jacques Cormery, whose poverty-stricken childhood in Algiers is made bearable by his love for his silent and illiterate mother, and by the teacher who transforms his view of the world. The most autobiographical of Camus's novels, it gives profound insights into his life and the powerful themes underlying his work. Albert Camus was born in Algeria in 1913. The works that established his international reputation include THE PLAGUE, THE FALL, THE REBEL and THE OUTSIDER. Camus died in a road accident in 1960 and is remembered as one of the greatest philsophical novelists of the twentieth century.
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A few years following his acclaim as Nobel Prize winner, Albert Camus suffers a fatal car accident. The manuscript found in the wreckage has been edited by his daughter and published as "the First Man" in 1995. In this autobiography, camus intdroduces us to the poverty and struggles of the french algerian colonists. Having been orphaned by his fathers death in WWW 1 trenches, he is raised by an affectionate but deaf mute Mother and a tyrannical and abusive gradmother. How he survives this bleak environment is largely due to a remarkable teacher who rechognizes his talsnts and tutors him up to scholarships. Tallented in philosophy as well as journalism, his essays on "Absurdism" and nihilism make a mark on Parisian intellectuals. Written with intense feeling and honesty, his life story is tryuly inspiring. A great book !
sghfromnj
Sep 8, 2007
The First Man - Camus
This was such a gem to find! Unfinished, and therefore full of notes to himself, it shows us Camus in reverie. Tender, heartbreaking, real -- I feel I have been in the life of the boy who surely was Camus himself! Even if you find other books by Camus uncomfortably dark, this one is full of the kind of hope that perseveres in the heart of a brilliant spirit.
