The plague is, according to this reading, another word for the Nazi occupation. Camus, who himself fought in the resistance against the Hitler regime, alludes quite unmistakably to a totalitarian regime that occupies, tyrannizes, terrorizes and robs a society of its freedom. So the novel takes place in the 1940s, from which one of several allegories can be derived, namely the Nazi occupation of France. Camus begins with an imprecise, yet unambiguous date: The strange events to which this chronicle is dedicated took place in Oran 194x. The Plague is at first sight the fictional story of the disease of the same name in the Algerian city of Oran. Only then can it unfold its full meaning for the reader. In any case, knowing that Camus worked in cycles helps to put the novel The Plague in a better perspective. The third cycle, which Camus wanted to write about love, remained unfinished, because he died in a car accident in 1960. One could also say that the first cycle was dedicated to the loneliness and strangeness of the individual, and the second to the question of the solidarity of this lonely, alien individual in society. This includes the novel The Stranger, the philosophical essay The Myth of Sisyphus and the play Caligula. The author had previously published his first cycle, the one on absurdity. He also wrote the philosophical essay The Rebel and the play The Just Assassins. In The Plague, the later Nobel Prize winner for literature uses the novel as a style. This included texts of different genres on the subject of revolt. It was published in 1947 as the first part of his three-part revolt cycle. This is precisely why the book is relevant far beyond the cause of the corona virus.Ĭamus wrote it in the 1940s. But Camus is about much more: it is about the meaning of life, about revolt, solidarity and freedom. It is therefore easy to read as a stand-alone work about a spreading disease, and it is thus a great literary experience. And indeed, there is much in this novel that concerns us especially in these days, from the challenges of everyday life, the struggle against time, fears and suffering, to the role of religion and other real or supposed sources of hope. Many recommend the book as an informative read about epidemics and their social consequences. The corona virus has led to Albert Camus‘ novel „The Plague“ selling particularly well again.
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