Customer Reviews

The Plague

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On the surface, this is a story of a plague outbreak in colonial Oran, Algeria, but Camus is actually giving an extended allegory to the Nazi Occupation of France while reiterating his idea of the Absurd.
The good Dr. Bernard Rieux is comparable to Charles DeGaulle in his constant effort to battle against the forces of oppression. Rieux along with Dr. Castel warn the city government of the dangers of the plague, but the government drags its feet. This is comparable to the feet-dragging and mismanagement by the French government in response to the German Blitz of World War Two.
The worst characters in the novel could also be considered the most colluding members of French society to the Nazi occupation. The character Cottard seems to revel in the new "occupation" by the plague. It makes him feel less alone and that everyone is suffering through the personal struggles he must deal with constantly. He greedily excuses himself from responsibility to fight the plague at all. Camus is probably comparing Cottard to the fascist Vichy Government set up by the Nazis after France's fall. Cottard, because he is a fascist, is delighted that everyone must now conform to his sick ideals.
The public itself represents the general French public during the occupation. They try to escape the plague by going to movies and plays, but soon reality stops them from enjoying even that when the actors all start dying from plague. This demonstrates Camus's belief that most people were indifferent and chose to be helpless during the occupation (Camus founded the left-wing Resistance newspaper Combat).
I quite enjoyed all the allusions made in The Plague. A good novel for all readers and a definite must read for fans of existentialism.

Rarely in the history of literature has a work of art risen beyond its time period, beyond its own temporal moral lessons. Camus writes of the "rats," the metaphorical Nazis, that infect an empty city, rip it apart, plop it on its head, expose it nude. And he shows us those who fight back ("two plus two equals four") and those who wimp away. Camus wrote the novel in a small town called Le Chambon in 1944, where 5,000 Christian saved 5,000 Jews. And today, do we not witness those who slink from confrontation? those who carry forth Cicero's duties? those who profit? those who die? And is it not best to ask, in the end, where is the meaning? Camus answers.

This book, first of all, has a great theme. The theme of endurance and carrying through is a wonderful moral and is expressed very clearly. The problem I have with this book is that it is slightly boring at some points. It seems to go on and on sometimes and I think Camus could have written this in a lot less space. I had to read this for a class and I chose it because the plot sounds interesting. And to the book's credit, it is one of the few books that actually is what the summary says it is. The book is deep, but not so deep that the reader can't understand it. It is a good read, but dull at some points.

The Plague by Albert Camus merits recognition because it illuminates two universal truths, one that is still present today and one that will always exist. In this seemingly completely existentialist novel, Camus forces us to realize that, however difficult it may be to admit, most of us go through life exiled from the rest of the world. When given a second look, The Plague can be revealed to identify the enemy to which, according to Camus, humankind must never surrender.

One thought-provoking topic that can quickly be discerned from the novel is isolation and exile. As soon as the city of Oran, Algeria is quarantined, its residents find themselves alone and yearning for contact with the outside. Although the citizens of Oran do not leave their homes, they realize they have been exiled from the world: "it was undoubtedly the feeling of exile--that sensation of a void within which never left us, that irrational longing to hark back to the past or else to speed up the march of time" (part 2 page 65). But, tragically, the citizens of Oran are not strangers to this overwhelming emptiness.

Even before the town gates were closed to contain the plague, the townspeople already isolated themselves from each other. They did not lead fulfilled lives and, according to the narrator, "everyone is bored... their chief aim in life is, as they call it, `doing business'" (part 1 page 4). The citizens of Oran took their families and friends for granted, and concentrated instead on money, as though peace of mind was a given and not something for which one would need to be grateful. Such an attitude has become more prominent than ever in our fast-paced material-driven society, with a staggering number of people pointlessly going through the daily motions without ever stopping to make time for others. This striking similarity makes the novel extremely relevant in today's world.

However discouraging this portrait of a discontent city may seem, Camus whispers a secret message over the loud drama of the story, and this contributes to The Plague being a noteworthy novel. Camus portrays characters like Raymond Rambert who join plague-eradicating efforts, such as sanitary squads, in a favorable light. In addition, Dr. Rieux, a main character throughout the story, works tirelessly at relieving the suffering of the diseased. Both men are on the frontlines of the chief conflict in the novel: humans versus human suffering.

Although Camus believes suffering and death are the meaningless results of life, he does acknowledge those who at least make an effort to fight these pestilences of the human race. For Camus, surrendering to the inevitable pain and loss in life is not an option, and his characters reflect this ideal. To fully appreciate the undeniable value of The Plague, one must look past the obvious and discover how Camus depicts lifestyles similar to ours and how he cleverly conceals an undercurrent that runs through the novel and supports those who battle against the affliction that plagues all of humanity.

This book was written quite some time ago and was amazed on how the author seemed to apply the agony and despair of the plague to relate to the here and now without ever knowing it. I don't think much will change if a disaster as the plague should hit now or in the future. Most people will react the same way as in the book never wanting to believe what was actually happening. The narrator, Dr. Rieux, seems to have detached himself from the horror of the plague and seems almost nonchalant about it which gives it a weird twist. The writing is really good and this book will remain among my bookcase of classics.

To put it bluntly, The Plague is not the best example of Albert Camus' writing. The Plague was written after The Stranger and before The Fall and acts as a transition state between his other two major works. Somehow though, it is less effective than both its predecessor and its successor.

The story is told through the narrative style that Camus favors, but in a more formal and impersonal style than what his readers would be familiar with. There is a noticeable lack of dialogue as the reader is lead through the events surrounding the outbreak of bubonic plague that Camus chronicles, leading to the problem of overly drawn-out passages. Overall, the structuring of this version is honestly very poor with seemingly minimal attention paid to syntactical continuity.

Content-wise, The Plague is centered around existentialist ideas and explorations like the rest of Camus' work. Like with every one of his novels, he pursues a different aspect of existentialism by variation of plot and presentation. The Plague explores the meaninglessness of human life aspect of existentialism, through the preoccupation of the villagers of Oran with their "business" and the meaninglessness in the way a plague begins to wipe out everyone. The intention of this is to prove the common conception that "In fact, it comes to this: nobody is capable of really thinking about anyone, even in the worst calamity" (241), but the opposite of this is shown by a few select characters. One of the few shining points of this novel is that Camus effectively conveys through his characters the key existentialist idea that while life may be meaningless, man can give himself meaning by struggling against the very meaninglessness he is condemned to.

The Plague is not a book for neophytes to the work of Albert Camus. It is neither a well written book nor a shining example of existentialism at its best. Sadly, the story is a wall in and of itself to get over in order to arrive at the point Camus was trying to make. The Plague is the least developed novel of Camus' three, and is definitely not a "must-read."

Dr. Rieux, the main character of the novel, moves throughout the book in a detached surreal hopeless manner. He goes thru the motions of "doing his job" while death surrounds him from a wide spread and accelerating plague.

I find Jose Saramago's "Blindess" to be a far superior book to The Plague. Similar theme and concept but more descriptive and moving. The Plague was clinical in its approach - almost bloodless.

I found this highly acclaimed book to be very difficult to re-read, often having to re-read many pages over and over. I would pass on this book.