Literature's World Cup...

The world cup kicked off yesterday in spectacular style, with the hosts playing out a thrilling 1-1 draw with Mexico, amid the swathes of colour and clamour of those, now famous, vuvuzelas. As this is the first time an African nation has ever hosted this magnificent football tournament, it seemed an apt opportunity to explore the continent's literature - as diverse as the lands themselves.

Situated in England's group, the Algerians have produced one of the most famous existentialist writers in Albert Camus. Author of 'L'Étranger', Camus became the first African-born writer to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, which he achieved in 1957.

Egypt, beaten by the Algerians in the play-offs, also boast a Nobel Laureate - Naguib Mahfouz, who swept to glory in 1988. A writer of a similarly existentialist bent, Mahfouz is considered as one of the first writers of contemporary Arabic literature to explore such themes.

The Nigerians, who find tricky first match opponents in Argentina, have arguably more recognisable names to a British audience, due to the commonality of language. Chinua Achebe, who famously once called Joseph Conrad 'a racist', is author of 'Things Fall Apart', the most widely read book in modern African literature. More recently, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has come to the fore for her two prize-winning works, 'Purple Hibiscus', and 'Half of a Yellow Sun'.

Zimbabwe, nicknamed 'the warriors', have never managed to qualify for World Cup finals, and this time finished third in their group behind Angola and Nigeria. Yet despite their footballers falling slightly short of world-class, their adopted writers most certainly do not. Multi-national author Doris Lessing, has called Zimbabwe her home for much of her life, and the writer of 'The Golden Notebook' is another of Africa's children to receive the coveted Nobel Prize. Scotsman Alexander McCall Smith, most famous for 'The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency', was born in Zimbabwe, and also has ties with other African countries having co-founded the University of Botswana. 

Finally, we turn to the proud hosts South Africa, who sit in possibly one of the most open groups in the competition. Two more Nobel Laureates hail from this country, with both J.M. Coetzee and Nadine Grodimer calling it their birthplace, despite the former's recently acquired Australian citizenship. Their wealth of literary talent also includes poet and anti-apartheid campaigner Tatamkulu Afrika and the author of 'Cry, The Beloved Country', Alan Paton. Possibly the most famous to British audiences, is novelist Wilbur Smith, nearly all of whose books are centred on Africa and its peoples and traditions.

Thus we have a contintent united and diverse, of sporting and literary tradition. The world cup has begun. May the best team win.

Nicolas Sarkozy: President or grave-robber?...

French intellectuals are up in arms over Sarkozy's latest publicity stunt. An avid reader of Albert Camus from a young age, the French President has decided to move the writer's body to the Panthenon in Paris; the resting place of many of France's literary treasures such as Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola and most recently Alexandre Dumas. Yet the move has caused outrage amongst Camus' fans, who refuse to accept the idea of right-wing president taking the body of a left-wing champion or an anti-intellecual, as Sarkozy is often called, grave-robbing an intellectual. The debate is likely to continue for some time.

On this day...

Albert Camus, an Algerian-born, French writer, was born in 1913. Camus, also a philosophical authority, was often cited as being an advocate of exisitentialist thought, in which induvidual should primarily be concerned with their own existance; yet Camus himself denied this. He later became associated with absurdism, which deems the search by humanity for meaning in the universe to be futile. Influenced by figures such as Orwell and Dostoevsky, Camus tranferred these ideas into novels; producing such works as 'The Stranger', 'The Plague' and 'The Fall'. Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957 for illuminating 'the problems of the human conscience in our times', becoming the first African-born writer and second youngest recipient of the award. He died in 1960, earning him the undesirable title of shortest-lived literature laureate to date.