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 217
... silent . And now the doctor grew aware that the child's wail , after weak- ening more and more , had fluttered out into silence . Around him the groans began again , but more faintly , like a far echo of the fight that now was over ...
... silent . And now the doctor grew aware that the child's wail , after weak- ening more and more , had fluttered out into silence . Around him the groans began again , but more faintly , like a far echo of the fight that now was over ...
Page 254
... silence the doctor raised himself a little in his chair and asked if Tarrou had an idea of the path to follow for attaining peace . " Yes , " he replied . " The path of sympathy . " Two ambulances were clanging in the distance . The dis ...
... silence the doctor raised himself a little in his chair and asked if Tarrou had an idea of the path to follow for attaining peace . " Yes , " he replied . " The path of sympathy . " Two ambulances were clanging in the distance . The dis ...
Page 290
... silence brooding over the beds in which he had let men die . There as here it was the same solemn pause , the lull that follows battle ; it was the silence of defeat . But the silence now enveloping his dead friend , so dense , so much ...
... silence brooding over the beds in which he had let men die . There as here it was the same solemn pause , the lull that follows battle ; it was the silence of defeat . But the silence now enveloping his dead friend , so dense , so much ...
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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