Camus Killed in Car Crash: Absurdism's Champion at 46
He died in a car crash on January 4, 1960, on a road in Burgundy. Albert Camus was 46, at the peak of his reputation, with a Nobel Prize four years old and unfinished manuscripts in the briefcase that was found at the crash site. He had spent the 1950s writing about Algeria — the country where he was born and loved — as France tore itself apart over independence. He couldn't take a simple side. The Algerian left thought him a coward. The French right thought him a traitor. He died before it was resolved. He might have found the resolution unbearable either way.
January 4, 1960
66 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on January 4
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