Current events had me in mind of Albert Camus' 'The Plague', a book I had read over ten years ago and very much enjoyed back then. Today it seems to be a book for our times; people surviving and co-operating under great duress and pressure.
Set in the city of Oran, France, people start dying of what comes to be identified as the plague beginning the eventual lock-down of the place. The main character, Dr. Benard Rieux, is on the frontline trying to save as many people as he can, often working very long hours for the benefit of others.
On my first reading I found that because the main character was a doctor that it humanised the existentialist philosophy. Rieux does his work for no benefit than helping others as he does not believe in God and does not expect any reward than to see people live. But the task is absurd. Everyday the death toll climbs higher despite Rieux's hard work it does nothing to reduce the plague.
Yet he does not succumb to despair though he is very tired as the work he does gives him a meaning despite it's impossibility of completing. The plague also reveals some characters best qualities during the emergency showing that it is for some people need danger for them to shine.
Unlike 'The Stanger' (or 'The Outsider') where it focuses on the individual's reaction to the absurd, the act of trying to find meaning in a meaningless world, 'The Plague' is much more concerned with how a community deals with the randomness of life. This woks both in form and content as 'The Plague' is made out of diary entries and letters from all the principal characters.
Eventually the plague recedes and life resumes with some characters being changed by the experience. It is a book that is particularly resonate today and one that we could best do well to read so that we can find ways through this troubling time. I wish all my readers the best of health and happiness as we traverse difficult terrain. Having readers from all other the world I'm sure that we can appreciate how there has never been a time when we have felt all part of one Earth.
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