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 171
... seemed unlikely that these excesses were premeditated . Usually it was some chance incentive that led normally well ... seemed to have some effect on the populace was the establishment of a curfew hour . From eleven onwards , plunged in ...
... seemed unlikely that these excesses were premeditated . Usually it was some chance incentive that led normally well ... seemed to have some effect on the populace was the establishment of a curfew hour . From eleven onwards , plunged in ...
Page 270
... seemed to crystallize above the town . Yet never before had the sky been so blue ; day after day its icy radiance flooded the town with a brilliant light , and in frost - cleansed air the epidemic seemed to lose its virulence , and in ...
... seemed to crystallize above the town . Yet never before had the sky been so blue ; day after day its icy radiance flooded the town with a brilliant light , and in frost - cleansed air the epidemic seemed to lose its virulence , and in ...
Page 271
... seemed to be leaving as unaccount- ably as it had come . Our strategy had not changed , but whereas yesterday it had obviously failed , today it seemed triumphant . Indeed , one's chief impression was that the ep- idemic had called a ...
... seemed to be leaving as unaccount- ably as it had come . Our strategy had not changed , but whereas yesterday it had obviously failed , today it seemed triumphant . Indeed , one's chief impression was that the ep- idemic had called a ...
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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