From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Plague

Albert Camus

Start date: August 1, 2020

Finish date: August 15, 2020

Discussion: Classics Corner

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Jul 25, 2020 spoko rated it really liked it

Shelves: philosophy-religion, canon-classic, book-club, history, fiction

Reading this in a time of actual plague (or at least epidemic), I’m probably much less likely than I otherwise would have been to search for symbolism and analog in Camus’ narrative. There is a lot here (especially in the first section) that just echoes what I see in the world around me. But in the end, I do think there’s a way that the plague itself takes on a metaphorical role (as does the Coronavirus epidemic, probably).

The central threat to the characters of this book is a stand-in for any g ...more

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Jun 27, 2008 Yulia marked it as ever-so-slowly

This is a book I feel is important for me to read, but I just happen not to be in the mood right now. Probably it's best to buy it so I have it around when I do feel inappropriately cheerful. It'd be interesting to see if this was the inspiration for Saramago's Blindness. Of course, stories of epidemics are as old as the Bible. ...more

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