Plague
by Albert Camus, Laura Marris · first published 2021
73% recommend27% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Novel about a North African city quarantined by plague, told as a series of character studies of how different people respond to the same pressure; readers find it reflective and relevant, especially during pandemics.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Other existentialist works include: - "The Plague", by Albert Camus - "Metamorphisis", by Franz Kafka - "The Moviegoer", by Walker Percy - "The Bridge Over San Luis Rey", by Thornton Wilder I can't say they are enjoyable or relevant in the way…
on ““The Idiot” Savant: On Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Idiot” ↗…mentioned these a few times around HN before): * Atlas Shrugged (also good: The Fountainhead) by Ayn Rand * Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath * Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Freedman * The Plague by Albert Camus
on “Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?” ↗lately I've been reminded that The Plague by Albert Camus had an influence on me. I was unfamiliar with existentialist philosophy before reading that (in translation, for a high school English class).
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗…disappointed by the international response, and that of the United States quite specifically. One of the first references I posted to HN following news of the Wuhan outbreak was Albert Camus' 1948 novel, The Plague. The story it tells, of society, government, and individuals, in the face of pestilence, is timeless. And contains valuable lessons: https://antilogicalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/the-pl...…
on “My Covid-19 Story in Brooklyn” ↗…by Peskin and Schroeder. There are many things in that book I could make into a standalone project that could occupy years at a time. Some other picks: The Man in The High Castle by Phil K. Dick. The Plague or The Outsider by Albert Camus. City of Thieves by David Benioff.
on “Ask HN: Which book would you pick to re-read for the rest of your life?” ↗The Plague and The Outsider by Albert Camus. Taught me my place in the world
on “Ask HN: What books fundamentally changed the way you think about the world?” ↗The Plague and The Outsider by Albert Camus. Be prepared to change your opinion of what is important!
on “Ask HN: Life Changing Books?” ↗Albert Camus, "The Plague". Basically a series of character studies of how different people respond differently to the same external pressure (being quarantined in a city stricken by bubonic plague on the North African coast…
on “Ask HN: Are there any books that changed your life during college or school?” ↗Alice in Wonderland - I read it once a year, just to remind me of how interesting imagination and paying attention in little things can be. I'm also thinking of going back to The Plague by Albert Camus. It felt really surreal when I read it over the pandemic. Want to see how I would feel now that COVID has become an endemic disease.
on “Ask HN: What books do you want to read over again?” ↗…need a private room with a private bathroom." BTW, to my general knowledge, ER rooms do not have private bathrooms. Anyway, my current research into this is reading Albert Camus' 1947 La Peste (The Plague); inevitable partisanship aside, I'm getting the impression a lot of this is universal when humans are faced with such a dire thing. It's not like we don't have millennia of experience with plagues.
on “How Nigeria Stopped Ebola” ↗…and left the office.' [1] Back then fleeing was at least considered an option but today? Where would you go? Very striking is also Albert Camus' classification of people in the face of crisis in The Plague: - the ignorant - the revolting - the ones in solidarity - the loving ones Lastly not to forget, the episode about the telephone sanitizers in Douglas Adams' book;-) [1] My own translation (attempt)
on “On Pandemic and Literature” ↗…It's a strange experience, since it's the same book - but you have changed, and so the book has become a kind of time mirror that shows those personal changes reflectively. (It was Albert Camus' The Plague for me, revealing something of a transition from hopeful idealism to rather jaded realism).
on “You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it” ↗In France, I remember we read several classic allegories on that theme at schools. Rhinoceros by Ionesco (even watched it in the theater as a school trip), also The Plague (Albert Camus). I didn't think much of it when I was a teenager, but I'm looking at them on the light of these recent events. Especially Rhinoceros on ideological contagion.
on “They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)” ↗