#lottman

The Death of Albert Camus - January 4th, 1960

From: Albert Camus, A Biography by Herbert R. Lottman.

At the time of the accident -- Michel Gallimard at the wheel, Camus seated at his right (without seat belts; they were not a common accessory then) -- they were not moving at what the Gallimards would have considered excessive speed. Michel usually drove more slowly when he had someone to talk to, and they were talking in the car. Janine, in the rear with Anne, was aware of nothing untoward, heard no exclamation or other comment of her husband. She felt as if she were suddenly on a curve (the road was a straight line now) and that something had collapsed -- like the gearbox beneath them. Then she was sitting or lying in a field, in a state of shock. She was discovered calling for her dog Floc.

As the accident was reconstructed by police and the press, the Gallimard car had swerved off the road -- whose surface was slightly damp from January drizzle -- smashed into one of the tall plane trees lining the highway, then wrapped around a second tree some forty feet further on. Camus was thrown backward against the rear window, thrust through, his skull fractured, neck broken; he died instantly. It took two hours to disengage his body. Michel Gallimard was found on the ground, bleeding profusely, and was removed quickly to a local hospital. Janine was near her husband, in shock; leash in hand, she was indeed calling for her dog. Anne, splattered with mud, was in a field sixty-five feet from the car. Neither woman appeared seriously hurt, but they were also taken to the hospital.