The Plague, Albert Camus's novel published in 1947, has sparked renewed interest among many readers around the world in a situation of confinement. Today, through caregivers in hospitals, "what we learn in the midst of plagues is that there are more things to admire in men than things to despise."
Anne PROUTEAU
President of the Society of Camusian Studies
Lecturer in French literature at UCO
https://recherche.uco.fr/chercheur/182/anne-prouteau)
The Plague is the story of this epidemic in Oran and the struggle of its inhabitants to fight against the evil. The brave Doctor Rieux, who tells this story anonymously, tries to do "his job as a man ", "to arithmetically reduce the pain". Faced with the tragedy, he tries to speak "clearly" to his fellow citizens. Several protagonists are staged, each with a different posture: the same syndrome that affects them provokes a diversity of reactions.
Among them, we could mention Rambert the journalist who, although the doors are closed, would like to be at all costs to join the woman he loves. As the epidemic progresses, he will gradually become united and concerned about the common good.
Father Paneloux, a priest on the verge of caricature, who harangues his parishioners as if the plague were a divine punishment, has also evolved after seeing a child, an innocent, die. His second sermon attests that he has lost his arrogance; he lives more in communion with men and women, on his knees, before the same mystery of evil.
I have a special affection for a quiet office worker named Grand. While engaged in the cordon sanitaire, he spends his time writing the first sentence of a novel that would like to be perfect. This modest task may seem trivial, but it attests to the importance of the search for beauty in times of distress.
We must also mention Tarrou, Rieux's friend who, in the heart of this battle, suggests an experience that would seal their friendship: taking a bath in the Mediterranean that borders the city. Rieux agrees to experience this stopover, this break with his friend. Under a starry night, they celebrate their friendship by swimming together; these moments, in their gratuitous nature, recall the need at the heart of any fight for renewal, for a return to the inner life and for the care to be given to the quality of the bonds. They return to the fight "but they had the same heart and the memory of this night was sweet to them."
And when the city gates open, the crowd of Oranians is jubilant. Doctor Rieux does not entirely share this joy: he knows that he must remain vigilant, measured. He concludes by estimating all that the plague has taught him:
"There are more things in men to admire than things to despise."
Read The Plague in its entirety and for free: http://www.anthropomada.com/bibliotheque/CAMUS-La-peste.pdf
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