Camus lived at some distance from Paris but had planned to go to the city by train. Instead, he was persuaded by his friend and publisher Michel Gallimard to ride in his brand-new Fiat sports car, then just about the hottest four-seater on the road anywhere. I remind you that for many years French highways, even major ones, were lined with trees, deliberately planted, and spaced a little more than a car-length apart. This situation contributed greatly to the high-risk nature of highway travel in France. Zooming toward Paris at 130 kilometers an hour (about eighty miles an hour), the car skidded to the right and went off the two-lane road at a place called Villeblevin. As the published photographs show, it hit a tree pretty directly in the area of the right rear seat, where Camus was riding. The car was totaled--"shredded" was the official term--and Camus was killed instantly as far as anyone could tell. He died with his train ticket in his pocket. He was the only fatality. The national police noted that at least one left tire had blown out, consistent with loss of control and a skid to the right, and added "the driver may have had vertigo briefly." (A little hesitation, but is it enough to hang existentialism?) There was no mention, as far as I could tell, of any other possible cause.
