The Plauge

by Albert Camus

"The Plague" by Albert Camus is a Camusian existentialist novel set in Algeria. It explores the absurdity of life through an epidemic that forces characters into isolation and existential crisis. As the epidemic spreads, suffering and death become pervasive, prompting profound philosophical reflection on morality and resilience within the quarantined community. Camus delves into the existential crisis faced by individuals confronted with the randomness of death and the isolation imposed by the epidemic. Amidst despair, characters grapple with the absurdity of their existence, questioning the meaning of life and morality in the face of suffering. Through the lens of the Algerian setting, Camus examines the resilience of the community as it confronts the plague, highlighting the human capacity for solidarity and compassion in times of crisis. The novel serves as a philosophical meditation on the human condition, emphasizing the importance of confronting life's absurdities with courage and reflection. "The Plague" stands as a timeless testament to Camus' existentialist philosophy, offering profound insights into the nature of suffering, resilience, and the search for meaning in a world marked by uncertainty and death.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Audiobook

288 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2024

About the author

Works, such as the novels The Stranger (1942) and The Plague (1947), of Algerian-born French writer and philosopher Albert Camus concern the absurdity of the human condition; he won the Nobel Prize of 1957 for literature.

Origin and his experiences of this representative of non-metropolitan literature in the 1930s dominated influences in his thought and work.

He also adapted plays of Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Lope de Vega, Dino Buzzati, and Requiem for a Nun of William Faulkner. One may trace his enjoyment of the theater back to his membership in l'Equipe, an Algerian group, whose "collective creation" Révolte dans les Asturies (1934) was banned for political reasons.

Of semi-proletarian parents, early attached to intellectual circles of strongly revolutionary tendencies, with a deep interest, he came at the age of 25 years in 1938; only chance prevented him from pursuing a university career in that field. The man and the times met: Camus joined the resistance movement during the occupation and after the liberation served as a columnist for the newspaper Combat.

The essay Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus), 1942, expounds notion of acceptance of the absurd of Camus with "the total absence of hope, which has nothing to do with despair, a continual refusal, which must not be confused with renouncement - and a conscious dissatisfaction."
Meursault, central character of L'Étranger (The Stranger), 1942, illustrates much of this essay: man as the nauseated victim of the absurd orthodoxy of habit, later - when the young killer faces execution - tempted by despair, hope, and salvation.

Besides his fiction and essays, Camus very actively produced plays in the theater (e.g., Caligula, 1944).

The time demanded his response, chiefly in his activities, but in 1947, Camus retired from political journalism.

Doctor Rieux of La Peste (The Plague), 1947, who tirelessly attends the plague-stricken citizens of Oran, enacts the revolt against a world of the absurd and of injustice, and confirms words: "We refuse to despair of mankind. Without having the unreasonable ambition to save men, we still want to serve them."

People also well know La Chute (The Fall), work of Camus in 1956.

Camus authored L'Exil et le royaume (Exile and the Kingdom) in 1957. His austere search for moral order found its aesthetic correlative in the classicism of his art. He styled of great purity, intense concentration, and rationality.

Camus died at the age of 46 years in a car accident near Sens in le Grand Fossard in the small town of Villeblevin.

Chinese 阿尔贝·加缪

Reviews

[jaji · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I didn’t grasp the concept entirely but it did not move me in the way I was hoping for. I understand the depth of each character and the commentary of human nature, but it was kind of boring and almost predictable. I guess that was the point? Idk.

[Daunte Gaiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I kinda already know how this ends so….

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly well written with great use of diction to express what it means to be a human in turbulent times. It was incredibly eerie to read only because I lived through COVID and what that impact had on my life and those around me. It's not one of my favorite books but it was a really good read since Camus has such a good way with words.

[Dylan Brandes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written. Beautiful. Kind of a drag to get through when I’m not in the mood but extremely rewarding to read. We live in a society.

[agatkaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

poor rats

[Grey Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit, this was a bit of challenging read. Very dense language and the plot was a bit mundane for the majority of the book. However, I don’t think this is a fault on the book. I like the way the writing style worked with the theme of the book. I am definitely a Camus enjoyer, and this work reads very similarly to his other works. The ending absolutely WRECKED me and I love that. This book made me think about my relationships with those I love and what it means to grieve. Big love for this one!

[Ommiolgi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the writing style of Camus and although this book has a slow pace it was a good read. Especially in the lingering shadow of covid, it resonated with the universality of epidemics.

i would recommend to most

[Vivian Pluff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is “The Plague”- Albert Camus. This book takes place in a coastal town in North Africa, Oran. The main characters are; Dr.Rieux, a doctor helping the people, Father Paneloux, a priest, Rambert, a journalist, Tarrou, an atheist, and Grand, an elderly writer. How I found this book is because I have read one of his books before and thought it was really good writing and my mom recommended this book to me so I decided this was my time to read it.

This book takes place in a small town called Oran and the town suddenly has an outbreak that causes a quarantine. The outbreak is caused by the terrible disease called the plague. How this started was because, one day Dr.Rieux was going outside and saw a dead, bloody rat. Then the rats were being spotted more and more. People then started putting all the dead rats in the center of town. Then people started getting really sick with lymph nodes all over their bodies, mainly in the areas on your body that produce more heat. The doctors started figuring out that it was the plague but they kept it a secret and only told doctors outside the town so they could watch out for it too. Once the plague got worse they decided to tell the town but some at first, they didn't believe it until their family members had died. Many people died because of this outbreak.

At the end of the book the remaining people were all staying in one building to bury the people who have passed away. In the end, the cases go down and many more people are surviving, letting the people go back to their homes in Oran. My favorite part/Quote is “The town acclaimed it with a long drawn sigh of delight. Cottard, Tarrou, the men and the woman Rieux had loved and 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 grief, that Rieux could feel himself at one with them.” Pg 308. This part really spoke out to me because all from the plague, many loved ones have passed but in the midst of that they made a group that will share the trauma together. They made good and bad memories together and those memories made their experience one of a kind.

I personally did not enjoy this book, the book felt slow and boring and it just didn't have a spark to me. I think the people who would like this book would be people who enjoy reading about diseases and history fiction. The reason I think I didn't like this book and understand it might be because it was translated from French to English so the translation was a bit weird.

[Juli Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Camus's writing is incredible. He writes with such clarity and simplicity the largest looming fears and questions of humanity. I ironically read this book in Ohio where I developed the worst case of bronchitis. The novel's message is as existential yet hopeful as any of Camus's, that life is trudging towards nothing yet life is to be lived.

I loved this passage: "...that to love someone means relatively little; or rather, that love is never strong enough to find the words befitting it. Thus he and his mother were to love each other silently....Tarrou (the narrator's friend) had died this evening without their friendship having had time to fully enter into the life of either. Tarrou had "lost the match" but what had he, Rieux (narrator) won? No more than the experience of having known plague and remembering it, of having known friendship and remembering it, of knowing affection and being destined one day to remember it. So all man could win in the conflict between plague and life was knowledge and memories. But Tarrou, perhaps, would have called that winning the match."

[Inka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly it was much better than I thought it would be. I really liked the characters, they were well written, and weren't shallow or exaggerated, they represent very well different moral perspectives and how people react in dangerous situations. I could understand every character's motive and see what they represent.
Even though the book was written in 1947 (or around that time I'm not sure) the language that the author uses is easy to read and it didn't make me exhausted.
When I was reading it I wasn't feeling extreme emotions or anything like that, (only in the end I must admit the author managed to break my heart a little bit) but after I finished it I was left with thoughts.
The whole book is a really great metafor for evil that is in the society, but I think if someone just wants to read about the plague it also will do. I enjoyed reading it and for sure will read Camus other works. :))

[Felix Dresden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little slow to start, a not necessarily an exciting read, but a pensive and valuable one. The main issue being the characters all seemed a little difficult to distinguish from each other.

The metaphor at its surface for axis occupation is very effective, and provides a “meta” angle to the story. Having lived through a plague, and indeed as the final passage warns, a time where some elements of history seem all too familiar, the wisdom contained in the book seems more relevant now than ever. In particular I think of the introduction to the sanitary squads, and the conversation on the terrace.

Worth reading, doubtlessly.

[A Bag of tea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ogólnie rzecz mówiąc książka jest dość nużąca. Pomimo tego, że porusza całkiem ciekawy motyw epidemii, to uważam, że jest on w dzisiejszych czasach dość spopularyzowany. Gdyby nie post pandemiczna rzeczywistość, która rozpowszechniła literaturę oraz kinematografię poruszające tematykę epidemii, książka mogłaby być bardziej zaskakująca. W obecnych realiach jest ona jednak jedynie jednym z wielu dzieł ukazujących pandemię i to w dodatku jednym z tych niezbyt ciekawych. (p.s. change my mind Rieux and Tarrou were in a situationship.)

[Alexander Limper · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s hard to think that this book wasn’t written about Covid. This book is one of the few, if the only, that I felt that I had actually lived through. The vivid descriptions of the whole novel were frightening similar to what I felt I had been through during the pandemic. Maybe it’s just how Camus writes about existentialism that made me feel so connected. Perhaps he is a time traveling wizard.

[Addison · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were many moments in this book where a single line stood out with such power that I had to pause and reflect. Sadly, these lines were scattered amongst some otherwise unmoving narrations and exposee. I enjoyed Camus' philosophy and some of his other writings and I enjoyed this one too, but it ranks lower than most of his work for me.

[Anna Salgado · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt it was slow at many parts, it would speed up and then slow down for at least 30 pages before picking up a little again only to repeat this cycle. It was difficult to keep picking up and I started to dread reading this book. I expected to love it because I really do enjoy Albert Camus' work.

[Fady Abdelmeged · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I was able to read this book when Covid was a thing. It would’ve definitely gave me more insight on how to behave during that time. At least I know what to read next time there’s a pandemic going on.

[Turg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best scenes in the book were the ones that felt soo short leaving the in between content feeling like a drag. I hope to one day get as much joy from the little things as the guy who lived for pissing off the cat

[Cedar · Rating 4 out of 5]

second best book i’ve read for school. hated some of the predictable of it but other than that it was well written and very enjoyable

[Manushi]

never dnf

[Mahdi Molaei · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characterization, story, are the things that catch my eyes.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written examination of the human condition when faced with a crisis. There were many moments in the book that made me stop and think.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

good 👍

[Corri Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

So happy someone spray painted “Life is pestilence” on a brick wall so that I was directed in this book’s (and author’s) direction. I definitely want to read more of Camus’s works.

[Brooklyn Hawksworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

read for school, great book especially for the state of our world currently

[prey · Rating 2 out of 5]

slow ahh book also predictable af

[Szymczak · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Every man carries the plague."

[Arham · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn’t really understand the whole plot because it was so predictable and the book itself honestly wasn’t very memorable

[Cas Stanczak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

[Gillian Comeau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crazy realistic. The descriptions and actions of characters and their emotions and actions gave me COVID flashbacks. But as always the old English writing style is boring to me

[Zachary Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

eeewww germs bro