"The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth."
Albert Camus was a French-Algerian writer, philosopher, journalist, and playwright who is widely regarded as one of the most influential intellectuals of the 20th century. Raised in poverty after his father died in World War I, he lived with his mother, an illiterate and partially deaf woman of Spanish descent. Despite his humble beginnings, Camus excelled academically, thanks in part to the mentorship of Louis Germain, his elementary school teacher to whom he wrote a beautiful letter after winning the Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44 (he was one of the youngest to win the award at the time).
The Letter
November 19, 1957
Dear Monsieur Germain,
I have let much time pass without letting you know what you have always been and still are for me. Without you, without the affectionate hand you extended to the poor little child that I was, without your teaching and example, none of all this would have happened.
I don’t make too much of this sort of honor. But it is at least an occasion to tell you what you have been and still are to me, and to assure you that your efforts, your work, and the generosity of heart you invested in it still live on in one of your little schoolboys who, despite his age, has never ceased to be your grateful pupil.
I embrace you with all my heart.
Albert Camus