The Wrong Side and the Right Side
The first book sketches the mother, grandmother and poor Algiers home that The First Man reconstructs in depth.
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The First Man
by Albert Camus
The unfinished novel recovered after Camus’s death returns to his father, his mother and a poor childhood in Algiers.
- 1994
- Elegiac
- Atmospheric
- autobiographical
- lyrical
- intimate
About Albert Camus
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeCamus’s unfinished autobiographical novel, published in 1994 from the manuscript found after his 1960 death. Jacques Cormery searches for his father’s grave and returns in memory to a poor childhood in colonial Algeria. The draft is open and sometimes rough, but its family detail and social world make it the essential final book.
The story, in more detail
Jacques Cormery visits the grave of the father he never knew and realizes that his father died younger than Jacques is now. That discovery sends him back through family stories and his own memories of a poor childhood in Belcourt, a working-class district of Algiers.[1]
The novel reconstructs a home ruled by poverty, silence and Jacques's strict grandmother. His mother is partly deaf and speaks little; his father died in the First World War. School offers Jacques a path beyond the neighborhood when his teacher Louis Germain recognizes his ability and helps him compete for a scholarship.[1]
Because the manuscript was unfinished, the narrative does not resolve every line. Notes, repetitions and alternative possibilities remain visible. The draft also enters the difficult history of French settlement in Algeria without completing the larger reckoning Camus appears to have planned.[1]
The full story
In 1913, Henri Cormery and his pregnant wife Lucie arrive at an Algerian farm where Henri will work. Their son Jacques is born that night. A year later Henri is wounded at the Battle of the Marne and dies in France.[1]
As an adult, Jacques visits Henri's grave at Saint-Brieuc and begins investigating a father who left almost no personal record. The search opens into memories of Belcourt: the cramped apartment shared with his mother, brother, grandmother and uncle; games in the street and sea; punishment at home; hunger; and the embarrassment of having no money.[1]
At school, Monsieur Bernard—modeled on Camus's teacher Louis Germain—persuades Jacques's family to let him pursue a scholarship. Education separates Jacques from the illiterate mother he loves even as it gives him the future that made the book possible.[1]
How it ends — spoilers ahead
Themes and analysis
The father he never knew
The dates change the encounter before Jacques learns anything more about his father’s character. Discovering that the dead man was younger than he is now unsettles the expected relation between parent and child: authority gives way to vulnerability, and filial duty becomes pity for a life cut short. The orderly rows of graves cannot contain that disruption. As Jacques notices other young fathers among the dead, a private calculation opens onto a larger loss, while also exposing how little the surviving son knows about his own beginnings.
The teacher's encouragement
Monsieur Bernard’s encouragement includes understanding why the family might refuse it. Before visiting Jacques’s home, he explains that years of further schooling would postpone wages the household needs; he does not treat the grandmother’s hesitation as simple hostility to learning. His offer of unpaid extra lessons makes support practical, but cannot remove every cost of the opportunity. When the grandmother finally squeezes Jacques’s hand, permission carries both affection and fear of separation. The scene makes education a shared sacrifice as well as an individual escape from poverty.
Why we recommend it
It gives the life behind the work
The novel makes Camus's poverty, family silence, schooling and colonial Algerian childhood concrete without reducing them to a short biography.
Its unfinished state is revealing
Notes and unresolved passages show Camus attempting a larger family and colonial history that he did not live to complete.
The search for an absent parent
Jacques Cormery’s search for his father connects family memory with the limits of what a child can learn about the past.
What this book explores
The people in its pages
Jacques Cormery
The autobiographical protagonist, seen as an adult searching for his father and as a boy growing up in Belcourt.
Catherine Cormery
Jacques's partly deaf, nearly silent mother, whom he loves across the distance created by education and language.
Henri Cormery
Jacques's father, killed in the First World War before his son could remember him.
Jacques's grandmother
The strict head of the poor household, responsible for money, discipline and the family's daily survival.
Monsieur Bernard
The teacher who recognizes Jacques's ability and helps him compete for a scholarship.
Timeline
1913
The novel opens with the birth of Jacques Cormery in colonial Algeria.
1914
Jacques's father dies after being wounded at the Battle of the Marne.
1950s
Albert Camus develops the autobiographical novel and returns to memories of his Algerian childhood.
4 January 1960
Camus dies in a car crash; the unfinished manuscript is found in his briefcase.
1994
Catherine Camus prepares the manuscript and Gallimard publishes Le Premier Homme.
1995
David Hapgood's English translation appears as The First Man.
Book editions
Paperback
- Paperback
- Gallimard
- 1994
- Paperback
- Vintage International
- 1996
- 9780679768166
- David Hapgood
Reader reviews
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A Happy Death
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Exile and the Kingdom
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Read our takeThe First Man: frequently asked questions
What is The First Man about?
The First Man follows Jacques Cormery as he searches for information about his dead father and remembers a poor childhood in French colonial Algeria.
When was The First Man published?
Gallimard published Le Premier Homme in 1994 from Albert Camus's unfinished manuscript, thirty-four years after his death.
Should I read The First Man first?
Usually not. Start with The Stranger, then read The First Man when you want this part of Camus’s work.
Is The First Man autobiographical?
Yes, strongly. Jacques Cormery's family, neighborhood, poverty and education closely follow Camus's life, though the book uses fictional names and novelistic scenes.
Is The First Man finished?
No. Camus was still working on it when he died in 1960. The published text preserves an incomplete draft and editorial notes.
Who found the manuscript?
The handwritten manuscript was recovered from the car in which Camus died. His daughter Catherine Camus later prepared it for publication.
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References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document The First Man, its publication, and its place in literary history.
2The First Man — David Hapgood translation, text transcription
WebsiteThePhilosopher.netUsed forPrimary transcription for the Saint-Brieuc cemetery visit and the scholarship offer and home visit in 6A: School. Its closing translator note identifies David Hapgood; no particular print edition or manuscript collation is claimed.
3Albert Camus – Bibliography
WebsiteNobel Prize OutreachUsed forUsed to place The First Man within Albert Camus's published work and verify its bibliographic context.
4Albert Camus
EssaysStanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyUsed forUsed for independent biographical, archival, or historical context surrounding Albert Camus's career and the period in which The First Man appeared.
5Albert Camus – Biographical
BiographyNobel Prize Outreach, 1957Used forUsed to cross-check authorship, chronology, and the work's place in Albert Camus's wider catalogue.
6The Nobel Prize in Literature 1957
Official recordNobel Prize Outreach, 1957Used forUsed to verify Albert Camus's bibliography and place The First Man within the broader chronology of Albert Camus's career.
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Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
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