The First Man

The unfinished manuscript of The First Man was discovered in the wreckage of a car accident in which Camus died in 1960. The 'first man' is Jacques Cormery, whose poverty-stricken childhood in Algiers is made bearable by his love for his silent, illiterate mother and by a teacher who transforms his view of the world. The most autobiographical of Camus's novels, it gives profound insights into his life and the powerful themes underlying his work.