The First Man

The manuscript to this unfinished novel was found in the wreckage of the car in which Camus perished. It was withheld from publication at the time of Camus' death, as it was believed that it would be savaged by his detractors. THE FIRST MAN is the first volume of Camus's projected epic, WAR AND PEACE, and covers the years of his childhood in Algeria. He tells of growing up fatherless with a deaf-mute mother and an illiterate, tyrannical grandmother; of poverty transcended by escapes to the beach, to the streets and docks, and joyous hunting expeditions with his uncle. His love for his silent mother is deeply rooted, but deeper still is the void left behind by his father's absence. With the miraculous intervention of a wise schoolteacher, the young boy discovers learning and gains a sense of purpose, which he still must reconcile with his family's illiterate, working-class origins.