Monday 4th January 1960

Albert Camus (46), French-Algerian existential novelist and dramatist author and philosopher who won the Nobel prize in 1957, died in a car crash near Sens, France. The driver of the Facel Vega car, Michel Gallimard — his publisher and close friend — also perished in the accident. In Camus’ coat pocket lay an unused train ticket. It is possible that he had planned to travel by train, but decided to go by car instead. His views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. He wrote in his essay The Rebel that his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy of nihilism while still delving deeply into individual freedom.Camus did not consider himself to be an existentialist despite usually being classified as one, even in his lifetime. In a 1945 interview, Camus rejected any ideological associations: “No, I am not an existentialist. Sartre and I are always surprised to see our names linked…”