Historical Heartthrobs: 50 Timeless Crushes from Cleopatra to Camus

Albert Camus: Excerpt

Albert Camus

YEARS: 1913 - 1960 

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: French Algeria 

AREAS OF INFLUENCE: Literature, Philosophy 

STYLE OF SEDUCTION: Thinkin' deeply 

VITAL STATS: "Beauty is unbearable."

 Albert Camus was at the center of literary culture in postwar Europe, and he remains a touchstone for college students all over the world. A poignant prose stylist and a deep moral thinker as well, he's the man that every Francophile yearns to be.

Camus's Life Story

Though he spent most of his adult life in France, Camus was born to poverty-stricken Pied-Noir parents in war-torn French Algeria. (Pieds-Noirs was a term given to French citizens inhabiting French Algeria prior to the Algerian liberation.) 

Young Albert was only a year old when his father was killed at the Battle of the Marne in World War I, and things were not easy on the small family after that. 

In his late teens, Camus enrolled in the University of Algiers, and probably endured many an allnighter as he balanced life as a soccer player and full-time student. Not even a bout of tuberculosis could keep him from graduating with a degree in  philosophy in 1936. After graduation, but before the publication of his first novel, Camus wiled the days away in his apartment penning essays on organized rebellion for a number of political papers. 

In 1942, while camped in Bordeaux with the staff of French paper Paris-Soir, Camus introduced his theory of the absurd with the publication of his essay "The Myth of Sisyphus" and unpacked its meaning in his short novel The Stranger. The latter presented an inherently meaningless world in which the characters have to create a meaning of their own. While catastrophic events happen to the main character Meursault, his internal self comes to be satisfied with his own death, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it.

The book suggests that life is a never ending but inevitably futile quest to find meaning. Pretty bleak stuff, right? But Camus assures the reader that Sisyphus finds this struggle satisfying in and of itself and urges acceptance of this reality. 

Behind the scenes, Camus was working as part of the French Resistance against the Nazis. In 1947, he published his next and arguably most famous novel, The Plague, which focused on the same theme of absurdism. It is set against the backdrop of an Algerian town held hostage by disease. Throughout the 1950s, the thinker worked for various human rights campaigns and continued to crusade as an outspoken political activist in the press, winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957. At age forty-six, he was killed in a car driven by his publisher.

The Story of His Sex Life

Camus's first attempt at marriage came in 1934 with an even greater free spirit than he, Simone Hie, who was a lifelong morphine addict and made a habit of sleeping with the philosopher's philosopher friends. They were divorced in 1940.

Camus was no stranger to adultery himself, having written, “It is an error to make Don Juan an immoralist. Nevertheless, he gave marriage another shot. In a letter to "Yvonne" the night prior to his wedding, Camus wrote, "I'm probably going to waste my life. I mean I am going to marry F." "F" was pianist Francine Faure, whom he did marry in 1940, but it didn't end well. 

They raised twin girls together, but Francine suffered from severe depression. It is rumored that his indiscretions drove her to throw herself off a balcony in an unsuccessful suicide attempt. 

Nevertheless, his affairs continued. His relationship with Spanish stage superstar Mari­a Casares was sustained for years in cafes and at parties throughout France. Camus's biographer Olivier Todd said of the thinker's amorous tendencies, "I did not write a book about Albert Camus's love life. Even a telephone directory wouldn't have been long enough for that."

Why He Matters

Camus offered the international public a means of coping with the trauma of World War II. As "The Myth of Sisyphus" and The Stranger began circulating widely and as absurdism (as distinct from existentialism) began to take hold, the hope of finding a sense of internal liberty resonated with despairing readers. Though the origins of his work can be traced to Soren Kierkegaard's influence, Camus is credited with founding and fleshing out absurdism as a proper philosophical theory. The Nobel Committee lauded the thinker's continued refusal to admit to the existence of negativity in his writings: "Inspired by an authentic moral engagement, he devotes himself with all his being to the great fundamental questions of life."

Best Feature

His fashion sense oh, and his deep concern for human life. The prototype of the collar popper, Camus was never seen without a sleek trench coat, slicked back hair, and a cigarette dangling from his lips. He was most often photographed with a paramour by his side and an expression of profound apathy on his face. His work belies the don't-give-a-damn image he tried so hard to project.

At the heart of each of his publications is a persevering pacifism and a belief that life is worth living - even if it is inherently horrible. Always advocating for an uprising, Camus undeniably had an affinity for drama and revolution, but his real concern for the plight of human beings sets him apart from many artists whose concern ends where their art begins.

Heat Factor

The flame of his passion never stopped burning. We always want what we can't have, and the prospect of actually locking down the elusive Albert Camus is made all the more appealing by his ultimate inaccessibility. Sure, his list of lovers could probably stretch the length of the Champs-Elysees if placed end to end, but he had passion to spare for each one. In his own words, "Why should it be essential to love rarely in order to love much?" Oh, Albert.

IN HIS OWN WORDS 

"Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is."

"Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?"

"Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend."

**Excerpted from Historical Heartthrobs: 50 Timeless Crushes – from Cleopatra to Camus (ISBN: 9781936976102) with permission of the publisher, Zest Books. Text copyright (c) Kelly Murphy 2014.**