Book Bearings
Cover of A Happy Death by Albert Camus

A Happy Death

Albert Camus

  • 192 pages · about 3 hours
  • First published 1971
  • 30 editions
Buy on Bookshop.orgView on Open Library

Bookshop.org links may earn us a commission. It supports independent bookstores and costs you nothing.

1 About this book

A Happy Death (French: La mort heureuse) is a novel by absurdist French writer-philosopher Albert Camus. The absurdist topic of the book is the "will to happiness", the conscious creation of one's happiness, and the need of time (and money) to do so. It draws on memories of the author including his job at the maritime commission in Algiers, his suffering from tuberculosis, and his travels in Europe.

Camus composed and reworked the novel between 1936 and 1938 but then decided not to publish it. It was eventually published in 1971, over 11 years after the author's death. The English translation by Richard Howard appeared in 1972.

A Happy Death was Camus' first novel and was clearly the precursor to his most famous work, The Stranger, published in 1942. The main character in A Happy Death is named "Patrice Mersault", similar to The Stranger's "Meursault"; both are French Algerian clerks who kill another man.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • Murderers
  • Happiness
  • Ethics

2 About Albert Camus

1913–1960

Albert Camus ( kam-OO; French: ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, writer, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history, and the first laureate in literature born in Africa. His works include The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Fall and The Rebel. Camus was born in French Algeria to pied-noir parents.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

3 More by Albert Camus

4 Similar books

Find a book that fits your moment