Plague (Illustrated Revised Edition)

Author: Camus
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-05-01
Features: This book is preface and recommended by Mr. Zhou Guoping! Typical reading in a non-typical time, the best read to save the soul, the most read novel during the SARS epidemic! For over half a century, it has sold over 12 million copies worldwide! Translated into 28 languages! The authoritative Chinese translation in the Chinese-speaking world, illustrated by the world-famous artist Dore, the representative work of the French existentialist literary master Albert Camus, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957! This is a novel written by the French existentialist literary master Camus half a century ago. It reflects the various reactions of the people in the city of Oran in North Africa to the sudden outbreak of the plague, and the great story of a large number of people, represented by the protagonist Dr. Rieux, fighting bravely against the plague. In the past, we always read it as a kind of fiction and symbolism, but after this SARS epidemic, we suddenly found that it is a realistic masterpiece of humanity facing major disasters. Not only did we go through this disaster this way, but in the unknown future, when we face another disaster, we might still go through it this way.
Reading The Plague during the SARS epidemic: The word "plague" was once so distant from us, no one could have imagined that it would fall upon us in the 21st century. After experiencing the SARS disaster, reading The Plague now gives us extraordinary feelings. Camus's famous work depicts the entire process of a plague, set in the 1940s in Oran, Algeria. In fact, there was no plague in that time and place, so Camus describes a fictional plague. Generally, it is considered an allegorical novel, with the plague-stricken Oran symbolizing France under fascist occupation. However, Camus's description of the plague is so astonishingly accurate that we can’t help but read it as a kind of documentary. At first, there are signs of the plague—dead rats discovered in houses and on the streets, individuals dying of strange diseases, followed by the second, the third, and more each day. Finally, a doctor dares to say the word "plague," and others are skeptical but dare not admit it. The epidemic spreads rapidly, becoming an undeniable fact. The city government fears stirring up public opinion ands the news. Eventually, the news cannot beed, so it is announced, measures are taken—disinfection, monitoring, isolation, and lockdown. Out of fear of infection, people suck on mint candies said to prevent the disease, sit back-to-back on buses, and keep a wary distance from their neighbors, suspecting every minor discomfort in their bodies. People’s attitudes shift from hope to panic, then from panic to gradual adaptation, and finally...