The Plague by Albert Camus (Book Analysis) E-Book

Bright Summaries

• Herausgeber: BrightSummaries.com
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: BrightSummaries.com
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 23

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Unlock the more straightforward side of The Plague with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Plague by Albert Camus, an existentialist classic in which he continues to question the absurdity of life and applies the notion of rebellion. It is the story of a plague epidemic in the city of Oran in the 1940’s and tells of the individual destinies of some of its inhabitants, who all react to the situation in a different way. The novel is believed to be based on the cholera epidemic that killed a large portion of Oran's population, or perhaps even the plague of the 16th and 17th centuries. Camus was a French author who was known for his thought-provoking novels and essays that often discussed fate, religion and philosophy, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957 for his incredible works. 

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   • A complete plot summary
   • Character studies
   • Key themes and symbols
   • Questions for further reflection

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Leseprobe

Albert Camus

French writer, playwright, essayist and philosopher

Born in Mondovi (Algeria) in 1913Died in Villeblevin in 1960Notable works:The Stranger (1942), novelThe Myth of Sisyphus (1942), essayThe Plague (1947), novel

A Frenchman born in Algeria and Nobel Prize winner, Albert Camus (1913-1960) is one of the major writers of the twentieth century. A politically committed intellectual, philosopher, journalist, playwright and novelist, he left his mark on his era with his reflection on absurdism, which he nuanced and made more sensitive and humane.

Widely admired, and sometimes criticized, Camus received considerable attention worldwide with his novels The Plague (1947) and, in particular, The Stranger (1942). He died prematurely in 1960 as a result of a car crash.

The Plague

The start of the revolt

Genre: novelReference edition: Camus, A. (1972) La Peste. Paris: Gallimard.1First edition: 1947Themes: epidemic, isolation, death, chaos, threat, revolt

The Plague tells of the efforts of Dr. Rieux and some other inhabitants to stop a plague epidemic that hits the city of Oran in the 1940s.

The novel was published in 1947 (the author’s first big success in bookshops) and marks an important development in the work and thought of Camus, since he breaks away from the cycle of the Absurd (The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus, Caligula and The Misunderstanding) and begins looking into that of revolt (The Plague, The Just Assassins, The Rebel).

1Quotes taken from the reference edition have been translated by BrightSummaries.com.

Summary

The Plague is in the form of a chronicle written by a mysterious narrator, whose identity is revealed at the end of the story (Dr. Bernard Rieux, the main protagonist). It tells of the curious (fictitious) events that occurred in Oran in the early 1940s (the exact year is not given).

The appearance of a mysterious illness

It all begins one day in April 1940, when Dr. Bernard Rieux stumbles over a dead rat when leaving his house. After driving his wife to the station (she is sick and must leave the city to seek treatment), Rieux begins his visits. The following day, after speaking with his patients, his colleagues (Dr. Richard, among others) and his neighbors, he realizes that rats are invading the city and are dying out in the open. A phone call from a former patient, Joseph Grand, leads him to meet Cottard, a sales representative who tried to hang himself. Cottard panics at the thought of having to speak with a police commissioner. Rieux reassures him and resumes his visits.