Literary scholars place Albert Camus as North Africa's first writer of consequence. A pied-nort, or French citizen born in Algeria while it was a colony of France still, Camus emerged from a decidedly tough, underprivileged background to become one of the leading writers of the twentieth century. Trained in philosophy, Camus wrote several acclaimed plays, essays, and short stories, but is best remembered for his two novels: The Stranger and The Plague.

Often erringly grouped with other French writers of his generation known as the Existentialists, Camus rejected literary labels and strove to write about humankind's struggles against itself, and how an individual might free him- or herself from constraining social, political, or religious dogma. Throughout his works, he attempted to portray the inherent worth of the individual, and explored, via both fiction and essays, the idea that in the end, life is absurd--but that humankind wishes it...