Albert Camus; trans. Stuart Gilbert
Published in 1947, The Plague by Albert Camus, translated by Stuart Gilbert, is a fictionalized account of a virulent epidemic of the bubonic plague consuming the port city of Oran in Algeria.
The narrator, Dr. Bernard Rieux, does not reveal his identity as narrator until the end of the novel. His experience as a physician brings him in close proximity with the living, the dying, and the dead in Oran. An acute observer of events, he charts the initial reluctance of town officials to acknowledge the plague’s presence. They reject his plea to take appropriate measures to mitigate its spread. It is only after deaths surge on a daily basis that the authorities can no longer afford to be in denial or to sugar-coat reality. They acknowledge the seriousness of the epidemic and issue a blockade on the town, implement sanitation procedures, and establish a mandatory curfew.
Camus charts the evolution of the population’s response to the plague—the isolation, the separation from loved ones, the restrictions on movement, and the increasing number of deaths. This is as much a novel about the deaths caused by pestilence as it is a novel about how people react in the face of a prolonged catastrophe with no seeming end in sight. The physical and mental toll is extensive. The drudgery of day-to-day living with little hope is captured. The plague’s invasion of the human body with its bursting buboes and fevers is described in graphic, grisly detail.
Women are given a tangential role in the events. Mothers and wives are briefly depicted mourning for the loss of loved ones. Dr. Rieux’s mother is present but she is always depicted indoors, does not witness the events first-hand, and is there to support her son. Camus focuses exclusively on the plague’s impact on men—government officials, physicians, and Dr. Rieux’s friends and acquaintances.
Amid the exhaustion, the ministering to alleviate suffering, the self-sacrifice of those willing to put their lives at risk to help others, the loss of dignity in death and in burial, and the absurdity of the situation, there emerges the human spirit’s desire to persevere, to show compassion and love, and to continue the struggle regardless of how remote the chance of success may be.
The novel lends itself to an allegorical reading. Dr. Rieux concludes the narrative with a cautionary note: although the plague seems to have abated for now, it can re-appear any time, any place. On the one hand, this is a physical plague that can devastate the human body. On the other, the plague can manifest in forms other than the physical. A plague epidemic can worm its way into our collective psyche, our economy, and our politics. Unlike town officials who are in denial until the plague cements its stranglehold on the community, Camus cautions us to be ever vigilant against its encroachment and to courageously bear witness to its presence. As one of his characters in the novel says, we must battle it even in the face of adversity, calamity, and powerlessness. We must do so because it is the only humanitarian option available to us.
A classic novel that speaks to all people at all times.