Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-08-01
French Novel
Is Pageant
Of Horror
THE PLAGUE
BY Albert Camus. (Knopt, So
Reviewed by
CARTER BROOKE JONES.

BY Albert Camus. (Knopf; So
Reviewed by
CARTER BROOKE JONES.
Imagine a modern city
clutched by the black death that
killed half of Europe in the Mid
ole Ages. Picture such a town
isolated completely with no
one allowed to leave or enter; a
state of siege which the contacts
of radio, telephone and telegraph
seem only to emphasize. Then
think of the months of death, desc
lation and terror that lie ahead.
Such is the grim setting OF the
new novel by one of Frances most
promising young writer's.
M. Camus places his fanciful story
of the plague in the French port
of Oran, Algeria, some time in the
194Os. With a quiet, dispassionate
narrative, he builds up, as he pic
lures, day after day in the stricken
city, a haunting pageant in which
horror, futility, courage, hope and
despair mingle. 1t is, within GER
tain limitations and despite some
defects, a novel Of power and I'M
Outstanding.
You may, if you choose, read into
1t a symbolic meaning-for instance,
the plague might represent the
French occupation or Nazi pogrom
but why, since the book is IN
the realistic tradition, should 1t not
be Judged primarily as mover? The
reader then may make his own
parable.
The chief characters are physi-
clan, Bernard RieuX; petty mu-
nicipal official named Grand;
Father Paneloux, Jesuit; Tarrou,
stranger; Rambert, visiting
Journalist, and Cottard, a mysterl-
Gus transient who fears the police
Character Studies.
M. Camus has not been content to
give a surface description OF what
goes during the months the plague
is killing thousands and holding the
survivors in rigid, prlsonllke
routine of rules. He has probed
deeply into the minds of his prlncl-
pal characters, touching on their
pasts. their hopes and their per-
plexities.
Much of the story is told through
the eyes OF RieuX, the sane. coura-
geous doctor, who can only plod on
driving himself through the hospital
wards 20 hours a day, hoping each
day for a break in the grisly fog
Sometimes at night he fancies he
can hear the sibilant voice OF the
plague over the shattered houses
Tarrou is a confused idealist who
devotes himself to directing volun-
teer crews of helpers. He and RleuX
become devoted friends, though they
know little of each other until the
last. Rambert is deeply in love,
with his girl in Paris, and he is
willing to pay any sum he can raise
to be Struggled out of the sequest-
cred city. But when the time comes
for him to slip out, he falterS; some
how he can't leave the work he has
volunteered to do. Cottard, the
strangest of them all tries to con-
ceal his satisfaction at the plague.
II has kept the authorities too busy
to worry about any fugitive from
justice.
Well Devised.
All those characters are we'll de-
vised. PanelouX, unfortunately, is
not. And he is too important in
the story to ignore. 1t is doubtful
whether any contemporary priest,
particularly a member Of an order
noted for its learning and modern
methods of education, would have
preached the sermon attributed to
Paneloux. Early in the plague, at
a time when the people are on the
verge of a panic, this Jesuit gives
a medieval discourse OF hell and
damnation, telling his parishloners
they've brought this on themselves
and deserve it. He has no comfort
for them. Later. the author tries
to make the priest more sympa-
thetic by having him plunge into
hospital work, and, after he watches
the projects child die, preach a
more moderate and more compass
sion0&f sermon. But Paneloux
never becomes more than what ap-
parently the author thinks priest
is like-a shape that seems based
more on assumption than expert
ence. And one can only suspect
that RieuX. an unbeliever, mirrors
the authors view A novelist may
believe or not believe what he can,
but surely it is his task to try to
Understand his characters, however
some may differ from him, and not
to stack his cards against them
arbitrarily.
Another weakness in the book
seems to me M. Camus' conception
of the beleaguered city. While his
outward description of Oran, with
the feeling of its seasons and
moods. is excellent, he is concerned
with only one aspect of life. All
his people are Frenchmen, except
for one glimpse of a part-Spanish
family. He mentions the Arab
quarter, and its squalor, but does
not revert to it when relating in
detail the effects of the disaster
This section must have suffered
more. heavily than the prosperous
areas, and it would have been natu-
raj for doctor to have called there
often. In ignoring the natives, the
author has left blank space in a
careful picture.
But on the whole M. Camus has
turned out remarkable chronicle
When it appeared as La Peste" ir
France last wear 1t caused a wide