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 82
... lost his grip of himself , had less and less to say , and failed to keep alive the feeling in his wife that she was loved . An overworked husband , poverty , the gradual loss of hope in a better future , silent evenings at home - what ...
... lost his grip of himself , had less and less to say , and failed to keep alive the feeling in his wife that she was loved . An overworked husband , poverty , the gradual loss of hope in a better future , silent evenings at home - what ...
Page 109
... lost , a mere shade among the shadows , and Rieux guessed this was the hour when he felt most derelict . It was , indeed , the hour of day when all the prisoners of the town realized their dereliction and each was thinking that ...
... lost , a mere shade among the shadows , and Rieux guessed this was the hour when he felt most derelict . It was , indeed , the hour of day when all the prisoners of the town realized their dereliction and each was thinking that ...
Page 308
... lost - all alike , dead or guilty , were forgotten . Yes , the old fellow had been right ; these people were " just the same as ever . " But this was at once their strength and their innocence , and it was on this level , beyond all ...
... lost - all alike , dead or guilty , were forgotten . Yes , the old fellow had been right ; these people were " just the same as ever . " But this was at once their strength and their innocence , and it was on this level , beyond all ...
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Common terms and phrases
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