Customer Reviews

LA Peste

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Having submitted this review in spanish and not having it posted, I'll try again in english.......
Camus reached fame with his elaborations about the concept of the absurd (the purposeless search of the meaning of existence in a universe void of any)in three works: The Stranger, a novel; Caligula, a teathrical opus; and The Myth of Sisyphus, a recopilation of philosophical essays.
In his second famous novel, The Plague, we find a different Camus. Perhaps, more concerned about moral values and solidarity between human beings, in the face of massive destruction.
The plot of the novel unfolds in the city of Oran, Algeria. The central image has to do with a rat invasion that causes a plague epidemy, with disastrous consecuences. Here we find metaphorically portraited the invasion by the Nazis in 1943 of non occupied France (Camus said that the Nazis came like rats).
Then we find a description of the evolution of the plague, the reaction of the authorities (at first, self denial), the progressive isolation of the town from outside world, and on the onset the "normalization" of the tragedy (people grow accostumed to live with it, and become zombies). After the evolution and the growth of the problem, the inhabitants become completely isolated from the outside, and become prisoners in the inside, due to the drastic measures taken by the authorities. The plague becomes a collective problem that requires recognition and reaction by all. We have here a clear metaphorical reference to the need of a collective reaction to the Vichy government by all the citizens. The call to participate and react becomes a moral issue. Camus then describes with certain detail the soccer stadium where people are forcibly concentrated by the authorities, and this is an allusion to the Nazi concentration camps. More than the persons, the protagonist of this novel is the city.
In the sense that the values of solidarity and participation against a common disaster or enemy are called for, this novel is much more developed, from an ethical standpoint, than The Stranger.

Camus's second novel "La Pest" is probably his richest and most widely accessable. The importance of the novel, however, is that it strives to create "existential ethics." Camus powerfully builds upon the ideas of absurdity that he estiblished in "The Myth of Sysiphus" and also expands upon how and why people must face and oppose suffering in the world.

Only in French, but comments in English are welcome:un des plus puissants livres de tous les temps, du point de vue litteraire inimitable, du point de vue humain la transcription artistique et a la fois humaine des profondeurs sensibles et distantes en meme temps de l'espece humaine.

This was the most difficult novel that I had ever read in French--and the most rewarding. Camus incorporates into his world of 1940's Oran Algeria a struggle between the respect for life as personified by the Physician, versus the Priest's view that life is just a prelude to something infinitely more wonderful--Death! Guess which side Camus favors?

I came upon this book because it was required reading for the course teaching French to graduate students whose departments (unlike my own) had such a language requirement. Clearly, La Peste is way too advanced for such novices! As a result the university book store had tons of these books that could be had for practically nothing! This was one of the best purchases that I ever made. On a recent conference trip to France I re-read this novel to brush up on my French--as pleasant a tutorial as one could ever imagine!

esta novela, que da la sensacion de claustrofobia y terror provocada por una enfermedad que pone en cuarentena a toda la poblacion, es otro logro de albert camus, un tremendo escritor, autor de ese otro libro llamado el extranjero. la peste, de caracter menos nihilista, nos muestra a los seres humanos aislados por la enfermedad y en busca de una causa comun, pero siempre solos, con su interior muy buena... LUIS MENDEZ

I ordered a spanish edition and received a french edition. I also complained about this and received no answer. This was a totally unsatisfactory transaction and I would like to receive some communication about how this can be corrected.
John W Brahn

JE SUIS VRAIMENT CONTENTE! so happy that the book came earlier than the expected arrival time! I am this much closer to learning the french language =D awesome thank u!!!!

C'est un tres bon produit le livre est adorable. Je l'ai recu juste temeps moins de 6 jours bien que je sois
dans une localite hors des USA.
The product is great, the book is adorable. I received it just in time less than 6 days even though I was residing
out of the United States.

Just kidding! Actually this book was heavy, depressing, and tedious to slog through. All that means is I didn't like it. I could still tell that La Peste is Camus' best attempt at converting the world to existentialism-- it just wasn't my cup of tea. Skillfully written, well thought-out and planned. Rough going throughout, but it will change you if you let it.