This article provides a Taoist reading of Camus' posthumously published novel, "The first man". With its focus on the early life of the central character, Jacques Cormery, "The first man" is a semi-autobiographical account of learning and transformation, but it is, like so many other stories of its kind, one sustained by complex tensions: between the comfort of the familiar and the promise of the new; between possibility and despair; between resistance and acceptance. A theme that binds some of the key educational elements of the book together is love: Jacques's love of his mother and his elementary school teacher and their love for him; love of learning; and love of "home". A Taoist theoretical framework is helpful in understanding the nature of this love and its pedagogical significance. In particular, the book exemplifies the importance of the figure of the mother--both in the person of Jacques's mother and more symbolically in the notion of "the Great Mother". The article concludes with thoughts on the value of literature for educational inquiry.