Albert Camus (French: [albɔrɔn ˈmɔs ˈmɔs ˈmɔs ˈmɔs ˈmɑs]; November 7, 1913 – January 4, 1960) was a French absurdist philosopher, playwright, and novelist. He was born in the village of Dhraaan, also known as Mendovi, in the city of El Tarf in the far east of Algeria, into an extremely poor environment. His father, Lucien Camus, was killed a year after his birth in a battle during World War I, and his mother, a deaf Spanish woman.
His mother lived with a number of relatives in a near-nonexistent environment in the Belcourt neighborhood of Algiers. His identity and the poverty he experienced as a child played a significant role in shaping his life. In his youth, Albert Camus was interested in swimming and football, and was a goalkeeper for the youth team of Racing Club de Algiers until he was forced to abandon the sport due to tuberculosis at the age of seventeen. His football career led him to utter his famous phrase, “All I know about morality, I owe to football.”