Albert Camus, a towering figure in 20th-century philosophy and literature, left an indelible mark on the world through his writings and ideas. Born in 1913 in French Algeria, Camus grew up in poverty, raised by his mother after his father died in World War I. His early life experiences in Algeria—a land marked by colonial tensions—shaped much of his worldview, laying the foundation for his later work on the human condition, morality, and the absurd. Camus became known not just as a writer but as a public intellectual, blending existentialist ideas with a sense of humanistic responsibility.