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<Author and content>
The Plague (French: La Peste) is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947. Camus was born in 1913 in Algeria, wrote The Stranger (French: L'Étranger) when he was 29, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947 when he was 44. The Plague is set in French Algeria around the time when Camus was born. City of Oran is invaded by the plague bacteria from rats. While the people are infected and dying, the story depicts the conflicts and human drama among people in different occupations, such as a physician Dr. Rieux and a jesuit priest Father Paneloux.
Main Characters:
• Dr. Bernard Rieux A physician (Rieux's wife who has been ill is treated in Paris)
• Jean Tarrou His notebook is the key to this work (helping Rieux’s medical activities)
• Joseph Grand A clerk for the city government
• Father Paneloux Jesuit priest (he says that human sinfulness caused plague)
• M. Othon A magistrate in Oran
• Cottard He is under investigation by the authorities for an unstated crime
• Dr. Richard Chairman of the Oran Medical Association
• Raymond Rambert Newspaper reporter (he decides to stay in the city and continues to help fight the plague)
The Plague is an assigned book for April 2020 of our book-club.
<Impressions at the Book Club>
During the COVID pandemic in 2020, we read The Plague. There was an expectation that "our future may be written in this book because human emotions are the same regardless of race and time". Although I found a weakness that overlaps with me in every character, all the characters appear in the book are middle-aged "males" such as doctors, a priest, and a reporter. There was a part in the book that made me feel "is this story still going on?" as it became at times boring. There are no female characters thus no romance in the book, either. It may be that only specific people are identified in Algeria, an Islamic land, who could have gone out in the infected city at that time.
I became more interested in Camus himself as the story has several complex layers. Camus broke up with Sartre, and given his assertions and his existential philosophy, after reading the book I had more questions than understanding Camus and his book. I think Camus, who wrote this book at a young age, is an interesting and mysterious writer.
Is The Plague a French metaphor of German occupation of France during World War II? Both the government and people reach to a stage where they face human dignity to fight the reality both physically and mentally, that seems like the situation people face during the war and the pandemic. Plague and COVID pandemic are different illnesses, but they are the same in the sense that they are uncontrollable.
As expected, Camus’ writing style which is deep and precisely descriptive, as the Nobel Prize-winning author, is as solid as Toni Morrison. At the same time, I also felt that the translated Japanese version of the book is not smooth, and unfortunately does not flow naturally.
Every character in the book has their own special personalities. I do not think I belong to any particular character but to the general “others”. It is possible for me, however, to do a little more under the circumstances, and I think Grand is the one who appears to be that way. It makes me laugh that he rewrites a novel repeatedly, but I am also the same way being obsessed with this kind of details. Rieux is fascinating, but I do not think I have this much of honesty, rebellion, or strong will. Every person is fascinating and interesting. It is little disappointing that all characters are males, but perhaps it was the normal of the place then. At the same time, I thought it is certain that Rieux's mother is an overwhelming statue of Mary. It would be interesting to see a book in the future centered on the female prime ministers of New Zealand and Germany, who deal with the current COVID pandemic.
When I first picked up this book, I thought I would be catching at straw. I think I was trying to fill the gap between my ignorance and reality and seeking some clues. However, in the meantime, I fell into a state of random reading along with the history of infection and virus-related subjects. The Plague is not an easy book to read but unexpectedly, I see some hope and trust in the main character Rieux and others, and I was eventually fascinated by the image of these characters. So, it was I who recommended this book as a book for the month to my book club.
Immediately after I finished reading the book, I felt that I could not understand the writer's intentions just by reading it once. Each sentence had a precise and deep meaning only for the Nobel Prize-winning writer could write. It was a pity that I did not have enough time to fully understand the author’s intention this time, and that the Japanese translation did not come in smoothly.
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