Publication of The Plague

The Plague is a novel by the French-Algerian writer Albert Camus, set in the Algerian port city of Oran, which is struck by an outbreak of bubonic plague and sealed off from the world. The story is told through the experiences of the doctor Bernard Rieux and a group of people who face the epidemic in different ways, including the visitor Jean Tarrou and the journalist Raymond Rambert. It is often read as an allegory of the German occupation of France during the Second World War and of the struggle of resistance. The book explores solidarity, the absurdity of suffering and the duty to do one's best in a hopeless situation. It helped Camus earn the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957.

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