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calarco 's review for:
The Plague
by Albert Camus
Well, who knew an allegory for World War II Nazi occupation would be the most relevant read of 2020? Humans being humans, matters of pestilence and absurdism may never go out of fashion, especially at the rate our species is going. Well played Camus, well played.
“When a war breaks out, people say: ‘It’s too stupid; it can’t last long.’ But though a war may well be ‘too stupid,’ that doesn’t prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves. In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves…they disbelieved in pestilences. A pestilence isn’t a thing made to man’s measure; therefore we tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere boggy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn’t always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away… Our townsfolk were not more to blame than others; they forgot to be modest, that was all, and that that everything was still possible for them; which presupposed that pestilences were impossible.” (37)
The phrase ignorance is bliss comes to a crashing halt when you suddenly find yourself with bubo growths or needing a ventilator to breath. The past is ever present, and Camus’ understanding of the human condition in all its complexity is what makes this work so inherently timeless, though here’s hoping the future proves me wrong!
[b:The Plague|11989|The Plague|Albert Camus|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1503362434l/11989._SY75_.jpg|2058116] follows Dr. Rieux as he witnesses a town become overcome with the bubonic plague. We see how the town reacts to quarantine measures, and how the mood shifts as petulance spreads. His struggle to treat illness, turns into one to diagnose a condition that will in all likelihood kill its host. Rieux is drained and experiences the struggle Camus would later breakdown with [b:The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays|11987|The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays|Albert Camus|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1533718219l/11987._SY75_.jpg|855563]. To be a doctor during a plague is about as futile as pushing a boulder up a never-ending hill in hell. And the town does descend into hell.
“His sensibility was getting out of hand. Kept under all the time, it had grown hard and brittle and seemed to snap completely now and then, leaving him the prey of his emotions. No resource was left him but to tighten the stranglehold of his feelings and harden his heart protectively. For he knew this was the only way of carrying on. In any case, he had few illusions left, and fatigue was robbing him of even these remaining few. He knew that, over a period whose end he could not glimpse, his task was no longer to cure but to diagnose. To detect, to see, to describe, to register, and then condemn—that was his present function.” (192)
In addition to the physical trauma of his patient’s bodies, Rieux and his assistants experience psychological horrors anew with each case they encounter as the infection continues to spread. The deaths are cruel and meaningless, discriminating not in who it slays. Though that was not to say that petulance is any true equalizer.
“…the authorities had another cause for anxiety in the difficulty of maintaining the food-supply. Profiteers were taking a hand and purveying at enormous prices essential foodstuffs not available in the shops. The result was that poor families were in great straits, while the rich went short of practically nothing. Thus, whereas plague by its impartial ministrations should have promoted equality among our townsfolk, it now had the opposite effect and, thanks to the habitual comment of cupidities, exacerbated the sense of inequality in men’s hearts.” (236-7)
We can see this very phenomenon today with COVID-19, with it proving to be more deadly to lower income individuals, and especially to communities of color. Socioeconomics is always at play. From life to death, it is what determines peoples’ very livelihoods in so many ways. And as Camus shows, this is nothing new.
All said, this book is amazing. Existential dread is not everyone’s cup of tea, but you’ll be pressed to find anyone who writes it better than Camus. If you want to understand the world, I have to recommend reading The Plague.
“When a war breaks out, people say: ‘It’s too stupid; it can’t last long.’ But though a war may well be ‘too stupid,’ that doesn’t prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves. In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves…they disbelieved in pestilences. A pestilence isn’t a thing made to man’s measure; therefore we tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere boggy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn’t always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away… Our townsfolk were not more to blame than others; they forgot to be modest, that was all, and that that everything was still possible for them; which presupposed that pestilences were impossible.” (37)
The phrase ignorance is bliss comes to a crashing halt when you suddenly find yourself with bubo growths or needing a ventilator to breath. The past is ever present, and Camus’ understanding of the human condition in all its complexity is what makes this work so inherently timeless, though here’s hoping the future proves me wrong!
[b:The Plague|11989|The Plague|Albert Camus|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1503362434l/11989._SY75_.jpg|2058116] follows Dr. Rieux as he witnesses a town become overcome with the bubonic plague. We see how the town reacts to quarantine measures, and how the mood shifts as petulance spreads. His struggle to treat illness, turns into one to diagnose a condition that will in all likelihood kill its host. Rieux is drained and experiences the struggle Camus would later breakdown with [b:The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays|11987|The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays|Albert Camus|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1533718219l/11987._SY75_.jpg|855563]. To be a doctor during a plague is about as futile as pushing a boulder up a never-ending hill in hell. And the town does descend into hell.
“His sensibility was getting out of hand. Kept under all the time, it had grown hard and brittle and seemed to snap completely now and then, leaving him the prey of his emotions. No resource was left him but to tighten the stranglehold of his feelings and harden his heart protectively. For he knew this was the only way of carrying on. In any case, he had few illusions left, and fatigue was robbing him of even these remaining few. He knew that, over a period whose end he could not glimpse, his task was no longer to cure but to diagnose. To detect, to see, to describe, to register, and then condemn—that was his present function.” (192)
In addition to the physical trauma of his patient’s bodies, Rieux and his assistants experience psychological horrors anew with each case they encounter as the infection continues to spread. The deaths are cruel and meaningless, discriminating not in who it slays. Though that was not to say that petulance is any true equalizer.
“…the authorities had another cause for anxiety in the difficulty of maintaining the food-supply. Profiteers were taking a hand and purveying at enormous prices essential foodstuffs not available in the shops. The result was that poor families were in great straits, while the rich went short of practically nothing. Thus, whereas plague by its impartial ministrations should have promoted equality among our townsfolk, it now had the opposite effect and, thanks to the habitual comment of cupidities, exacerbated the sense of inequality in men’s hearts.” (236-7)
We can see this very phenomenon today with COVID-19, with it proving to be more deadly to lower income individuals, and especially to communities of color. Socioeconomics is always at play. From life to death, it is what determines peoples’ very livelihoods in so many ways. And as Camus shows, this is nothing new.
All said, this book is amazing. Existential dread is not everyone’s cup of tea, but you’ll be pressed to find anyone who writes it better than Camus. If you want to understand the world, I have to recommend reading The Plague.