The Plague

Rating:
Summary: Imagery at its best
Review: A review of a book,that is this profound in nature ,does not deserve the muck of words. it on the otherhand is worthy of sheer brevity. Excellent ...i think sums it up, mind you rather weakly though. The imagery is awesome, perhaps only matched by Dostoyevsky..Read it. Recommend it to others. For everybody deserves a first hand experience of genius, in its purest form.

Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: I emerged from this book as one baptised in the cogent waters of a formidable intellect. Camus' masterpiece remains an astonishingly moving work even today, despite the half century that has passed since it was published. The story of a highly contagious plague which sweeps through the small north African town of Oran in an unspecified year in the 40's is an intrinsically human document, a social, philosophical and psychological study dealing with exile, seperation, love and bereavment, yet all delivered in the most objective of fashions. While the book can be enjoyed as a straightforward (and harrowing) narrative, the status of the plague as a metaphorical device is easily recognisable to the reader, although which specific comparison Camus wishes to make is perhaps less apparent: the reader can attempt to guess, or indeed assign whichever they themselves see as most fitting. None of the power of the novel is lost due to this fact. While the scale of the sheer loss of life the plague engenders is constantly made clear to us, the novel centres around a group of friends, all male, who are thrown together by grace of the plague itself. This group of people from all walks of life function as a cross section of the plague's effects on society, especially after Oran is quarantined and hence shut off from the outside world. I found the anecdotal structure dealing with the misadventures of Rieux, Tarrou et al to be one of the novels greatest strenghths, particularly when one witnesses the fragile and delightful friendships which burgeon between the protagonists and each characters own peculiar strategies for dealing with the horrifying situation in which they find themselves. Love, perhaps the most powerful of human emotions, has a particularly unique representation in the book, as much of the novel is spent in the depths of seperation, inaugurating a particularly objective viewpoint of love and its connotations. The grim inevitability of death makes the novel as a whole rather a morbidly fascinating yet inherently horrifying journey, and some scenes (such as the agonisingly slow death of a plague stricken child) are genuinely shocking. Despite this, Camus depicts the nobility of human spirit, particularly in times of crisis, with astonishing ease and grace. I found myself questioning the values by which I, indeeed all of us, live after finishing the book, and although Camus paints a chilling picture he does afford us a final message of hope which is very gratifying.
As a social study and telling look at the behaviour of humanity, this book is invaluable. Camus delivers myriad messages, yet it is scenes like that involving a moonlight swim or a plethora of dying rats that, I feel, will never leave my mind.
Hugely recommended to anyone with a modicum of intellect, or indeed those who enjoy a yarn with all the facets of a classic story: love, death, tragedy and hope.

Rating:
Summary: Go swimming!
Review: Anyone who dares struggle through this book must be in search of some life changing insight like I was. But insight can not be sought after, it is a gift. I spent too many hours dozing off during this long read only to come away with one life lesson - ENJOY LIFE as Rieux and Torreau did during their friendly swim! And if you want to enjoy life then don't struggle through this book like I did.

I must admit though, I began the book sympathizing with Rambert - wanting to flee. My views haven't changed, but now I realize the value of perseverence, determination, and love.

If you have the time to persevere through a long and sad book then give this one a shot.

Rating:
Summary: Hats off, gentlemen!
Review: The Plague is easily one of the best ten novels ever written, far surpassing even the erstwhile classic The Stranger. Whereas we examine an uncommonly cold-hearted man in a normal world in the pages of The Stranger, in this novel it is a harsh outside world which closes in on a group of fascinating characters. It is in this much more developed context that Camus' most remarkable notions of humanity, life, and existence can be fleshed out and communicated more effectively. The lessons of good, normal lives in a world gone mad are much more instructive and meaningful than the observations in The Stranger of a man gone mad in a normal world.

A word to the wise: when large numbers of rats come out of the woodwork and commence dying nasty, bloody deaths in the streets and houses, something is definitely wrong. In the port city of Oran, the population ignores the signs of danger and only grudgingly admits that an epidemic, a form of the bubonic plague to be exact, has taken root in their city. The protagonist, Dr. Rieux, is a doctor who finally helps convince the authorities to take extreme measures in the interest of public safety and to eventually quarantine the entire town. Over the course of the novel, we get to observe the manner in which Dr. Rieux, his companions, and prominent men of the community react to the worsening plague and its social consequences. Dr. Rieux has just sent his unhealthy wife off to a sanitarium before the plague breaks out, and he must suffer her absence alongside the stresses of working 20+ hours a day trying to save people's lives while accomplishing little more than watching them die horrible deaths. Dr. Rieux's attempts to make sense of everything is a basic pulse of the story; an atheist, he cannot find happiness but goes on day after day fighting the disease with all his might because that is what he as a doctor is supposed to do. His friend Tarrou supplies much of the knowledge we glean about the reactions of society as a whole as month after month of isolation continues in the face of death's greedy fingers. His journal records small but important facts about all manner of men, yet he himself cannot be said to find ultimate peace. We first encounter M. Cottard after he has hanged himself and been saved before death. A criminal type yet not a bad man, his initial worries over inquiries into his suicide attempt fade away as the plague's grip on Oran tightens. He emerges from a self-imposed exile to actually become a communicating member of society; he alone seems to enjoy the plague because it makes everyone else like him, forced to live each day with the fear of a brooding, horrible fate. Then there is M. Grande, one of my favorite characters in all of literature. A simple civil service employee, he devotes himself to volunteer work computing plague statistics and the like while still continuing his fervent efforts at writing a novel. Grande's wife left him years earlier because he got too wrapped up in his work and lost the words to communicate his love for her; he began writing a novel in an attempt to find those words. With great devotion and commitment he works on his writing, determined to produce a perfectly crafted novel, one where each word is meaningful and necessary for the story--in short, one that will inspire the future publisher to introduce it to his publishing house cohorts with the phrase, "Hats off, gentlemen." After untold months of dedicated effort, Grande has yet to get the first sentence to sound exactly right; he engages all of his efforts into perfecting this one sentence, sure that the rest of the novel will fall into place after it is perfected.

These main characters are all fascinating character studies. Not all of them live to see the plague's end, but each of them struggles to find meaning in his own experience--e.g., one character continues living because that is what is required of human beings, to go on fighting for life in a meaningless world; another character seeks to become a saint of sorts by helping his fellow man fight the pestilence. The overriding message I was left with at the end is that life is worth living despite the arbitrary cruelties of an unforgiving world because there is more good in man than there is evil. I found that the book delivered in fact a rather darkly uplifting celebration of the human spirit; one's loved ones give life its meaning in a hostile world. The Plague succeeds in ways The Stranger never could because the characters in this novel are utterly human and represent diverse aspects of the lives of each of us.

Rating:
Summary: A few thoughts
Review: Although the book's dramatic story and setting makes for interesting reading in and of itself, I found it more interesting to consider what the philosophical implications of the book might be. Camus used the story of the desperate circumstances of the people in this town to put forward important ideas about philosophy and living, and in that case, we might ask what those are?

To recap the story briefly, the small town of Oran on the Mediterranean seacoast is hit by plague, and the town gates are closed. The town inhabitants, now sealed off from the rest of the world, are left to their fate, and must survive as best they can.

Against this grim backdrop of events, a Dr. Rieux, the existentialist in the story (and perhaps Camus's alter-ego) is put to the test, and it is his views and character that Sartre is most concerned with. For the doctor, there seem to be two main questions that are at stake here. First, he sees the plague as synonymous not just with disease and illness, but with all the evils which afflict mankind. To Rieux, the plague symbolizes man's age-old fight against evil itself. For him, the question is, can man fight with plague? Can man, in fighting the enemies of mankind, defeat and kill the enemies of mankind?

And second, is it possible for man to come up with, in the face of such a deadly and implacable enemy, a philosophy equal to the threat of the plague, a modus vivendi, to counteract and combat the "modus morituri," perhaps, that the plague represents? Can man engage and defeat such an enemy, in an existence which Rieux regards as a brief exposure to pleasure, and a prolonged exposure to pain, and now deadly disease?

The Plague is an interesting, dramatic, and poignant account of one existentionalist's attempt to come to grips with these questions. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is that I found Camus's writing style a little dry, but that perhaps had more to do with the translation. ...

Rating:
Summary: Camus, my favorite French 20th Century writer.
Review: Someone recommended, "The Stranger" to me, but when I went to the bookstore they only had The Plague, so I bought it. I read it and was amazed; it was one of the greatest books I read in a long while. Camus is one of the most unrecognized but best writers of the 20th century. When I finished this book I thought it was a great masterpiece, but some people say, "The Stranger" is better, I will definitely go check that one out. The book is suspenseful, and extremely intelligent and complex. It is about how people react differently in the same situations. In this case it was of course, a plague, but I must warn readers that while the book is about a Plague that strikes the town of Oran, it's message is not about a Plague, please do not expect a senseless novel when reading this book. Camus was a very intelligent man, and I will definitely read his other books. This one was EXTREAMLY thought provoking.

Rating:
Summary: Some thoughts on Camus' Plague
Review: The plague is an allegory, for fascism and totalitarianism. The novel deals largely with individuals' varying reactions to the plague as it emerges and settles in on the city of Oran. Only those who act or are important in the development of the scene are named, and though many of the characters perceive reality differently, we are able to sympathize with where they are coming from. The novel is about overcoming indifference and performing good acts that we are all capable of. Camus makes it clear that there are no heroes in the novel, only people who recognize their responsibility and embrace life. Even though the plague is ultimately "defeated," there is no typical happy ending, for the plague bacillus never dies. This novel is still entirely relevant to our world today. The central point of Camus' writing is "the absurd." The absurd is characterized by the confrontation of "rational man and the indifferent universe." Camus dismisses ideas such as transcendence, or a leap of faith, there is no existential commitment. He looks to embrace the absurd, to keep it alive. Camus is very much a moralist and a pacifist; he deplored one-sided views of any political situation, and broke off relationships with other prominent writers of his time such as Sartre, whose ties to Communism and justification of violence Camus abhorred. He did not wish to take sides in the French-Algerian war. Camus did not seem to identify with a particular people, a belief system or any form of certainty, but viewed man as being in constant revolt against the powers that tried to enslave him, keeping him from living. Camus would rather embrace the absurdity of life than a frail system. Camus did not accept, as other "existentialist" writers of his time did, that humans were born into the world as nothing and it was up to the individual to entirely assert his own identity through his/her acts. "For Camus a man's acts could reveal an intrinsic integrity or dignity which were always there but which had laid dormant and unasserted until he was made to face the absurdity of his mortal condition in an immortal universe."(Masters, Camus: A Study). How The Plague deals with Reality:
- Subjectivity, shows how one person's reality is not the same as another's. It is only when people begin to realize that they are indeed "in the same boat" as one another (that they have common interests and a common spirit to fight for, and that they needn't be alienated from one another) that the plague can be seen as a real problem which needs to be fought, rather than an abstraction which must be hidden from.
- Shows how many cannot comprehend the enormity of a situation until it falls upon them, still often triggering disbelief.
- Looking at the "small things," people's reactions, etc. which "history" might ignore.
- Paying close attention to the conditions of the society; the indifference and apathy that helped to allow the plague to take hold.
- In historicizing an event like the Nazis occupation and plundering of Europe, it seems all too easy to look past the indifference which allowed such events to take place. The view in much of Europe was that it was someone else's problem, and even after their own nation was attacked, many merely tried to adapt, acted to appease the Nazis, or hoped that it would soon pass... they still saw it as someone else's problem to take care of. Camus was born in poverty in Algeria, somewhat of a "stranger" in France during the German occupation, but he found himself confronted with the situation, nonetheless, and was a key contributor to the French resistance army. One of his most important contributions was his work as the editor of Combat, the major underground resistance newspaper informing others of the problems and giving voice to a movement that all individuals needed to recognize their place in.
I hope that in reading Camus' Plague, you will be inspired and recognize the great relevance this novel still holds.

Rating:
Summary: CAMUS USES METAPHORS AND SOWS SOLIDARITY
Review: 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. IT MAKES POWERFUL READING.

Rating:
Summary: I cant think of a good title
Review: very very very good book. powerfully and masterfully written...the reaction of the different characters to death, the plague, and being quarantined really brings out their true natures....the portrait of the doctor in the book is so intense and thought provoking. touching upon the human condition and psyche. i think that camus has a deep understanding and judge of character.

Rating:
Summary: Much food for thought
Review: In "The Plague," the players have a more human face than "The Stranger." The plague is sometimes seen as a metaphor for Nazi occupation. This perhaps most evident when the plague's end is described by the narrator as liberation.

The priest Paneloux preaches that the plague is God's response to man's wickedness, but as the narrator says, "To some the sermon simply brought home the fact that they had been sentenced, for an unknow crime, to an indeterminate period of punishment." Echoes of Kafka's "The Trial."

The narrator quotes from Tarrou's journal: "Query: How contrive not to waste one's time? Answer: By being fully aware of it all the while. Ways in which this can be done: By spending one's days on any uneasy chair in a dentist's waiting-room; by remaining on one's balcony all of a Sunday afternoon; by listening to lectures in a language one doesn't know; by traveling by the longest and least-convenient train routes, and of course standing all the way; by lining up at the box-office of theaters and then not buy a seat; and so forth." A philosophy echoed by Dunbar in Joseph Heller's "Catch-22."

There are echoes of Sisyphus here. There is Grand (who is anything but) constantly rewriting the first and only line of a novel he is working on. There is Doctor Rieux's response to Tarrou's "Only, I now can picture what this plague must mean for you" -- "Yes. A never ending defeat."

There is Tarrou's explaining to Dr. Rieux his revulsion at capital punishment and later at the left's embracing murder for its own ends. Echoing Camus' split with Sartre and the left.

There is much food for thought here.