synopsis:
The Plague tells about the Algerian town of Oran in the midst of bubonic plague and the life that goes on during the crisis. The novel starts on a regular day; the townspeople are caught up in daily commerce and barely take time to enjoy a life that will soon enough be put in jeopardy. The first sign of plague comes when the rats of Oran begin to come out of their dens and the sewers and die all of over the town. This becomes a common thing for a little while and the number of dead rats climes drastically every day. The first sign of plague among the townspeople comes when the landlord of Dr. Bernard Rieux falls ill. Dr. Rieux is the main character in this story and he is the one that conveys its authors message throughout the book. He is one the towns doctors and is openly respected throughout. Rieux senses that something is not quite right in the town after the first few cases are reported and begins to press his collagues and the prefect to declare a state of plague in the town.
Eventually this is done and the gates to the city are closed. As a result, many people are cut off from their loved ones until this epidemic subsides. None of the characters are unaffected by this occurrence. Rieux is cut off from his wife who is in a sanatorium being treated for another illness. Raymond Rambert, an outsider to the town who is now forced to stay for the duration of the plague, he has a chance to escaped and return to his wife in Paris but declines to stay and fight the illness. Jean Tarrou stays in the town and becomes an important element in this struggle, he eventually contracts the plague and dies but not before the worst of the epidemic subsides. Other characters are affected as well but they are in more of a minor role. Eventually, the plague stops after about a year and after killing a good number of the people. A major component of this book is the longing for the outside world, and the people that live there, that the inhabitants of the stricken city experience. As a result of these feelings, the inhabitants find themselves understanding each other better.
on this book:
Along with L'étranger, 'La Peste' is Camus' most famous book. According to himself, it is his most anti-Christian book. It is interpreted in two ways. At first the stricken city of Oran by the Plague symbolizes the occupation of people by the Germans in World War II and the struggle from inside against one of the ‘scourges of humanity'. The book can also be interpreted in a more philosophical way: Camus thinks life is absurd (see his 'book of the absurd': The myth of Sisyphus). There is no deeper sense (in a religious way) and no God: we have to deal with the actual given situation without domination to a God or an afterlife (see Nietzsche, but also André Malraux). There is no answer to the 'why?' on the disasters that strike humanity.
We can find strength in our actual life by solidarity with other people. The stricken city of Oran symbolizes our being captured in this world, in this life, with no escape. The characters in this book deal with the absurd situation by their feeling of solidarity with their fellow 'prisoners'. 'La religion de bonheur': being holy without a God but by searching happiness in other people, the saint without a God. Camus condemns individual hope: we have to rebel against death and against absurdity by dealing with it by solidarity. This philosophical interpretation is strongly related to the political value of rebelling against the occupier in The Plague.
