The Plague is the third book I've read by Albert Camus and the second novel, the first being The Stranger (1942). After reading The Stranger last year, I was captivated both by Camus' incredible writing (thanks in part to a fantastic translation) as well as his philosophy of absurdism which permeates every story he writes.
Wanting more, I read Exile and the Kingdom (1957). A good collection of stories to be sure, but it didn't scratch my itch for a longer, more impactful story from Camus. Now that I have read The Plague, I can safely say that not only has that itch been scratched, but it has been replaced by a more intense interest and desire to read Camus.
In my opinion, the book is a stronger novel than The Stranger. The characters feel more real and the ideas feel more nuanced and expanded; this makes sense, given it was written five years after, and so you can feel that these ideas have been marinating in Camus for a long time and unsurprisingly he wastes no words in exploring many interesting nooks.
This last point brings an important difference between the two books: The Plague is far longer than The Stranger. You could probably read the latter in a single train ride, which makes it more digestible, but the length of The Plague allows Camus to take time exploring many characters' feelings and motivations.
Layers of the plague
Unlike The Stranger, which is almost purely a philosophical novel, The Plague has multiple layers in addition to exploring absurdism.
An epidemic
Particularly potent after COVID-19, the book plays with the effects on individuals and society in the presence of a massive epidemic. According to Google, sales for the book surged during 2020, as readers probably found that it resonated with their situation and perhaps provided the sense that are feelings are not our own.
The city of Oran is locked down and must deal with hundreds of death daily at the plague's peak and depleting resources; those who are thought to be infected or make contact with the infected are ordered to quarantine; a race to make a vaccine (called a "serum" in the book) which can cure the plague ensues.
All these can be related to the average experience had during COVID-19 (at least in America). That feeling of unease, of civil unrest, and of danger is present in nearly every page of The Plague.
Occupation and the rise of fascism
The Stranger was published at the height of World War II, whereas The Plague was written a few years after it ended. The catastrophic effects of fascism and the Nazi occupation of France were almost certainly still visible in Camus' daily life and he now had the ability to look back on how it came to be and the damage it can do.
Like harmful ideology, the plague spreads at a banal, linearly increasing rate; its early signs of warning are ignored by the populace; and its demise is contingent on the solidarity of the resistance.
The most direct exploration of this is found in the wanderer, Tarrou. He explains how he thinks the greater plague of the world is humans using bureaucracy and ideology to justify murder. He believes we all in some way contribute to systemic murder and consequently should try to lead to as little murder as possible. He calls this being an "innocent murderer."
It is fitting then that he should head the first "sanitation squad," a group of volunteers that go into people's home to fight the plague. The emphasis Camus places on these volunteers is that they do it because they must, not because of heroism. Paneloux, the priest, instead believes that the plague is God's will and submits to it (Camus famously calls this "philosophical suicide").
The uncaring universe
The Plague's most Camusian layer of meaning is that of exploring how humans who hold meaning react to an indifferent force of death. This is essentially the concept of absurdism: the universe is inherently meaningless, yet humans always try to assign meaning to it.
As the plague begins and spreads at an ever-increasing rate, eventually killing hundreds each day, the townspeople struggle to rationalize the level of destruction they are witnessing. Most retire themselves and become depressed, but some, like Paneloux, see it as a punishment for our sins (this view is shattered upon seeing the death of a child; he then fully commits to his belief and submits to plague himself).
The rational, like Rieux, don't try to assign meaning or understand the plague beyond what they can see. Instead, he acts on what he can see in front of him: people are dying and he can do something about it. He is still affected by the death around him, but he acts instead of submitting to the cosmic indifference of the universe.
Final thoughts
This was a great book and a must-read for anyone interested in Camus and absurdism. I find his philosophy to be sobering but also optimistic; his insistence not on heroism but on common decency feels real and hopeful. Perhaps we could all learn something from Rieux and Tarrou and do what we have to not because of some greater meaning, but because it is what needs to be done.