#La Peste

[lostinmylittleversailles]

french literature is a genre for itself.

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

The Plague, 1898 ART by Arnold Böcklin

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Doctor Rieux thus resolved to compile this chronicle which you find before you in order not to number among those who keep quiet, in order to bear witness in favor of those who suffer the plague, in order that some memorial would exist of the injustice and the violence which had been inflicted upon them. He wanted quite simply to record what one learns in the midst of the pestilence, namely that there are more things to admire about human beings than to despise. . . He knew what this happy crowd did not know, but what it could have learned from books: the plague baccilus never dies nor disappears for good, that it may rest dormant for dozens of years in furniture, in furnishings, that it waits patiently in bedrooms, cellars, trunks and bookshelves; and that perhaps the day will come when to the misfortune or enlightenment of humanity, the plague will again bestir its rats and send them forth to die in a happy city.

[L]e docteur Rieux décida alors de rédiger le récit qui s’achève ici, pour ne pas être de ceux quise taisent, pour témoigner en faveur de ces pestiférés, pour laisser de moins un souvenir de l’injustice et de la violence qui leur avaient été faites, et pour dire simplement ce qu’on apprend au milieu des fléaux, qu’il y a dans les homes plus de choses à admirer que de choses à mépriser. . . [I]l savait ce que cette foule en joie ignorait, et qu’on peut lire dans les livres, que le bacilli de la peste ne meurt ni disparaît jamais, qu’il peut rester pendant des dizaines d’années endormi dans les meubles et le linge, qu’il attend patiemment dans les chambers, les caves, les malles, les mouchoirs et les paperasses, et que, peut-être, le jour viendrait où, pour le Malheur et l’enseignement des hommes, la peste réveillerait ses rats et les enverrait mourir dans une cité heureuse.

—Albert Camus, La peste, bk v (1947) in Albert Camus Théâtre, Récits et Nouvelles (Pléiade ed. 1967), pp. 1473-74. As Albert Camus reminds us, we delude ourselves by thinking that the baccilus of fascism is gone. It lies dormant to be revived again, as we witnessed on Nov 5

[Robert Scott Horton]

[sublecturas]

"La mujer rota", de Simone de Beauvoir y "La peste" de Albert Camus en la #LíneaB

[sissa-arrows]

Only three Arabs appear in The Stranger, none of them are named or speak, and the role of the central one (the brother of an Arab woman who is regularly beaten up by the protagonist’s friend, Raymond, and who seeks to avenge her) is to be shot dead on a sunlit beach by the novel’s anti-hero, Mersault.

It requires little effort for even the casual reader to see that the Arabs are merely the toys or mannequins or wordless puppets which exist solely to provide fodder for the adventure and agonised musings of the central, European figure.

Likewise there are no named Arabs in The Plague. It is a novel entirely about Europeans. The majority of deaths from plague in The Plague must, logically, be the deaths of Arabs, since they made up nine tenths of the population of Algeria and of Oran, the city where the story is set, but there is no sense of this in the novel, no sense, for example, that the Algerians might have had different cultural and religious ceremonies and traditions surrounding their Muslim dead.

In Camus’s two most famous novels, nameless and faceless Arabs have to die in order for Europeans to have fancy philosophical reflections.

Albert Camus’s fictions erase the identity, and even the presence, of colonised native people. Seen from this perspective, far from promoting a universal anything, Camus’s fictions, no matter how troubled and questioning they may appear to be, in actual fact, by virtue of their assumptions and subject matter, continue the racist, colonial project of imperial France. Algeria is the place with no memories, no traces of men. Camus equates the notion of anonymity with Algeria (and therefore with Algerians) but also on a moral scale equates it with a place where human history is insignificant, which allows the negation not only of the past of indigenous people, but also of the recent past of colonialism.

Funny you’re mentioning this because my aunt is getting a college degree and they are making them read The Stranger so she was telling me the exact same thing.

Not only indigenous Algerians are not named, they barely exist in Camus’s books but they are “the Arabs” never the Algerians because Camus was a product of his time which means that he saw settlers like him as the real Algerians indigenous people were just there.

(Part of me think that’s one of the reasons Algerians are so attached to their Algerian-Ness it’s because settlers tried to remove it and steal it from us.)

[vagorecuerdo]

"Hoy en día, es normal ver a la gente trabajar desde la mañana hasta la noche y, escoger luego, entre el café, el juego o la plática: una manera de perder el tiempo que les queda por vivir. Sin embargo, hay ciudades donde la gente sospecha que existe otra cosa. Eso no cambia sus vidas, pero, al menos, tienen la sospechas."

~ Albert Camus. (La peste)

[lalchimiedecupid]

The Plague

Albert Camus

[veresghost]

❗️AOT and “The plague” spoilers

Some thoughts on AOT ending and parallels with Camus

Personally, I think that the ending of “Attack on titan” is very good

It’s rooted in a message that the human war is inherent, it is never-ending

Which makes me recall the ending of Albert Camus’ “The plague”: “the plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good; …it can lie dormant for years and years… and perhaps the day would come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it roused up its rats again and sent them forth to die in a happy city.”

The illness in this book represents war, World War II to be specific. La peste brune, brown plague is a name for nazism

By depicting a limit situation with a risk of death, Camus challenges his characters and make them discover their ground values through dangerous ordeals without any belief in the future

In a similar manner, AOT characters blindly reach to their freedom, not knowing what the future can offer and whether it even exists for them, to eventually come to a horrible realization that the battle will never end

But their main idea is to continue fighting, which is often repeated throughout the show

Similar to the book characters:

“…But your victories will never be lasting; that's all."

Rieux's face darkened.

"Yes, I know that. But it's no reason for giving up the struggle."

[erick-saqui]

El mal que existe en el mundo proviene casi siempre de la ignorancia, y la buena voluntad sin clarividencia puede ocasionar tantos desastres como la maldad.

—Albert Camus, La peste; Editorial "Azteca S.A.", p. 95.

[schumi-nadal]

I was tagged by @acrazybayernfan to share 9 of my favorite books: I'm so sorry, i didn't see the tag till today *sigh* thank you for the tag 🩵 (et je pense relire La Quête du Saint-Graal, petit moment de nostalgie grâce à toi haha).

I wanted to add more like The Goblet of Fire or Peter Pan, it was so difficult to choose only 9 of them 😂

Tagging @ofbooksandstardustbook, @luzmyway, @game-set-canet, and whoever wants to do it ☺ (feel free to do it or not💜 )

[lamaracuchaquecuenta]

—¿Quién le enseñó todo esto, Doctor?

La respuesta fue instantánea:

—El sufrimiento.

Albert Camus, La peste

[quicksilvergirl28]

Tarrou should have lived so he and Rieux could run off into the sunset together and move into a cottage and adopt a dog and have a small garden and set up a general practice clinic and–

[transparentgentlemenmarker]

Le mal qui est dans le monde vient presque toujours de l'ignorance, et la bonne volonté peut faire autant de dégâts que la méchanceté, si elle n'est pas éclairée. Les hommes sont plutôt bons que mauvais et en vérité ce n'est pas la question. Mais ils ignorent plus ou moins, et c'est ce qu'on appelle vertu ou vice, le vice le plus désespérant étant celui de l'ignorance qui croit tout savoir et qui s'autorise alors à tuer. L'âme du meurtrier est aveugle et il n'y a pas de vraie bonté ni de bel amour sans toute la clairvoyance possible.

La peste 1947 d'Albert Camus.

[fishpondfish]

illustrations by V. G. Alexeyev from my Soviet (1988) edition of The Stranger / The Plague / The Fall / Stories and Essays by Albert Camus

[catcoffeeenjoyer]

Tagged by @vostok3-ka let’s goo

1. Three non romantic duos

No one said they don’t have to be obvious, first one is Fedka and Kirillov, THEY ARE JUST IMPORTANT TO ME LIKE-

Perhaps more explenation would be well seen - Fedka is a run away convict, who was sold to the army by Stepan Trofimovic long time ago. Since the beggining of his life, he was dehumanised, because he was born as a serf - he was the property of Verkhovenskys, that is all. And even once he comes back to the city N, he is seen by most as a threat, or as lesser than them (here mostly Pyotr comes to mind), with exception of his family. And then he meets Kirillov - a man, whose whole idea revolves around self sacrifice and belief that once someone learns that they are good, they will be good. And while Fedkas mother was somewhere else, due to family death, Fedka stayed at Kirillovs, drinking tea and talking (also reading Apocalypse). That is to say, he stayed with someone who didn't really see him as a threat, and knew full well he was a murder, and yet treated him with kindness. And what happened? Fedka changed. Well, he still commited the murder, but he did change.

Then we got Cottard and Tarrou from the Plauge…

For those not in the loop, I recently reread the Plauge, and this storyline is similar however not exactly - Cottard is a man who keeps running away from the police, and is lonely. Like has no friends, because no one can relate to his constant fear, and he cannot talk to anyone about his fears because what if someone betrays him and out him to the police. Enter Tarrou - a man who is not a fan of police (due to his past, from what I understood), and who somehow finds out about Cottards constant escape. While Cottard is furious at first, soon he finds out that Tarrou is the only person he can trully talk to. He doesn't judge him, nor can he out him to the police. And they become friends. And at the end of the Plauge, once Tarrou is gone (and the Plauge), Cottard goes insane, because not only he might now be wanted again and no one can relate to him now, but also he lost his friend, the one he trusted the most.

The third is rather a comedic duo, more than a great and deep relationship... but you if I have the Plauge... if I have Demons.. then for the great trinity we have to have 1670 - the duo is Bogdan and Jakub

The reason he is only that they bounce of eachother well - and their subplot about exorcisms was funny. It had to be mentioned though, it was funny.

2. A ship that might surprise others:

... I don't think I have one? I'm pretty open about them.

3. Last song:

The age of the understatement by the last shadow puppets

4. Last film:

Niebezpieczni Dżentelmeni 2023 - rewatch for the fourth time

5. Currently reading :

Finishing up "The Text" by Gluhovsky, and then starting Illiad <3

6. Currently watching:

Alternatywy 4

7. Currently consuming:

Air

8. Currently craving:

Break from school

9. Tagged: whoever wants to do it lmao

[vagorecuerdo]

"El pulso se hace filiforme y la muerte llega con cualquier movimiento insignificante"

~ Albert Camus. (La peste)