The Plague 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. In any case, if for the most part this reading goes back to the teenage years, it is worth going back to it today because there are so many echoes of the wave of epidemics that is breaking out: the authorities who are slow to face reality, the containment measures, the different ways of reacting to evil, through denial, disdain, scheming, panic, and flight. Or commitment, embodied by Dr. Rieux.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. |
