The Plague“Its relevance lashes you across the face.” —Stephen Metcalf, The Los Angeles Times • “A redemptive book, one that wills the reader to believe, even in a time of despair.” —Roger Lowenstein, The Washington Post A haunting tale of human resilience and hope in the face of unrelieved horror, Albert Camus' iconic novel about an epidemic ravaging the people of a North African coastal town is a classic of twentieth-century literature. The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, and a few, like Dr. Rieux, resist the terror. An immediate triumph when it was published in 1947, The Plague is in part an allegory of France's suffering under the Nazi occupation, and a timeless story of bravery and determination against the precariousness of human existence. |
From inside the book
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Page 70
... epidemic we saw only one case in which natural emo- tions overcame the fear of death in a particularly painful form . It was not , as might be expected , the case of two young people , whose passion made them yearn for each other's ...
... epidemic we saw only one case in which natural emo- tions overcame the fear of death in a particularly painful form . It was not , as might be expected , the case of two young people , whose passion made them yearn for each other's ...
Page 115
... epidemic showed no sign of abating , they moved out to stay with friends . And the same cause that had led to all the rooms ' being occupied now kept them empty , since there were no newcomers to the town . Tarrou was one of the very ...
... epidemic showed no sign of abating , they moved out to stay with friends . And the same cause that had led to all the rooms ' being occupied now kept them empty , since there were no newcomers to the town . Tarrou was one of the very ...
Page 270
... epidemic did not stop " from one day to another , " it declined more rapidly than we could reasonably have expected . With the first week of January an unusually persistent spell of very cold weather settled in and seemed to crystallize ...
... epidemic did not stop " from one day to another , " it declined more rapidly than we could reasonably have expected . With the first week of January an unusually persistent spell of very cold weather settled in and seemed to crystallize ...
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Albert Camus ambulance anyhow asthma began Bois de Boulogne Booker Prize breath café called camp Castel coming concierge Cottard crowd dark dead rats death disease doctor door entered epidemic exile eyes face Father Paneloux feeling fellow citizens felt fever FLAUBERT'S PARROT followed gates gave gazed going Gonzales Grand hand heard heart hope horse hoofs hospital hour idea journalist knew light living looked mind morning mother narrator never night once Oran Othon patient pestilence Philip Roth picture plague pneumonic plague police Prefect quarantine quicklime railway directory Rambert realized Rieux asked Rieux replied round sanitary seemed silence smile sort sound street streetcars suffering talking Tarrou asked tell there's thing thought told took town townsfolk trying turned voice waiting walked walls week wife window words