Just Finished Reading: The Plague by Albert Camus (FP: 1947) [238pp]

When a dead rat is found near a housing complex it is a source of embarrassment for the landlord and his tenants. When ten dead rats are found in the locality it is a mystery, a curiosity to be spoken of in the café with friends. When hundreds of dead rats are found across the Algerian city of Oran it is no longer a curiosity but a source of anxiety and even fear. But it was only when a sick local, suffering from a condition none of the doctors had ever seen before, died in agony that some began to realise that something was very wrong. When the single case turned into two, then three then more all across the city the mayor called a meeting of all of the medical experts to understand exactly what was happening. No one was sure and samples had been sent to Paris for analysis but Dr Rieux has his suspicions – which he keeps to himself for now. Days later, after more unexplained deaths, the results come back from Paris. To everyone’s shock a disease from the past, long thought dead forever, has returned. It is the Plague. Certain that it will spread beyond the city if swift action is not taken the gates to the city are closed. No one is allowed to leave, and no one entering will be allowed to leave until the disease has either been conquered or has moved on after taking its fill of the population. Each citizen must now decide how they will continue in the knowledge of their cities tragedy. Will they hide in their homes and wait until the plague passes them by, will they turn to God to help them in their hours of need, will they pay criminal gangs to get them ‘over the wall’ to escape back to their homes and loved ones far away or will they stay, do what they can and choose to fight the scourge with everything at their disposal.

Cometh the moment, cometh the Classic. As usually I’ve had this book sitting in a pile for years after I bought it. I got into Camus during my Philosophy Master’s degree and have been very impressed with him ever since. I think this is my second novel by him and by far the better of the two. Taken at face value this is a study in character during extreme times. Each of the wonderfully drawn players in this drama (the narrator Dr Rieux is my favourite but others such as his friend Tarrou and his 75 year old asthma patient really stood out for me) has to decide how to react to the cities quarantine measures depending on their circumstances, character and personal philosophies. But naturally coming from the pen of Camus it is much more than that – and indeed much more than an exposition of his philosophical ideas in the real world. It is, as you probably already know, an allegory on the German Occupation of France in World War Two. Reading it and knowing this is quite weird. It is like seeing an image, a photograph maybe, and then seeing, sometimes clearly and sometimes in an almost after-image, another photograph superimposed on the first. Some of the photographs are similar enough to be subtle echoes of each other. Some are jarring in their difference and sometimes threatened to break the spell of the novel itself as part of the analytical side of the brain tried to understand not only what the author was saying but understand what it meant – from two perspectives at once. It could, at times, almost give you a headache – but in a good way! Needless to say I enjoyed this book immensely. I am a lover of French cinema and this novel had that continental ‘feel’ to it (despite being based in North Africa). Obviously the characters throughout the book were very ‘French’ and I found myself smiling more than once as I visualised the scene in my head almost complete with sub-titles and some accordion music in the background. It is a book you can revisit time and again teasing out various elements to hold them in your mind’s eye in an attempt to discern exactly what the author meant by this scene or that observation. Some if it is obvious even to someone not French and who did not experience the Occupation and everything that wrought on the French psyche. Other elements, quite possible much of the hidden narrative, will past over the heads of modern non-French readers. I suspect taking to time to dive deeper into the narrative itself and the history of the times it reflected would be worth the effort. Highly recommended and a deserved Classic.

Translated from the French by Robin Buss.