Nature Imagery and Human Suffering in Albert Camus’s <i>The Plague</i>

Jaime González-Ocaña

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12

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Nature Imagery and Human Suffering in Albert Camus’s The Plague

Jaime González-Ocaña

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 10, Issue 4)

Received: 14 March 2022 Accepted: 12 July 2022 Published: 26 July 2022

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Abstract

In The Plague, to describe the physical damage that infectious disease inflicts on the sick at Oran, Camus’s narrator uses lyrical images that identify the disease with natural phenomena and catastrophic natural events. This paper first examines the formal literary dimension of nature description and deadly infection in The Plague. The narrative device is especially abundant in describing several characters’ final moments: heat and flames; atmospheric elements, particularly those related to the wind and air currents; and maritime imagery all combine to communicate the tragic end of the infected and the destruction of their bodies. In addition, the narrator associates the heat/wind imagery with anatomical references to the chest or the lungs to typify the advancement of the disease and the loss of life. This mechanism alludes to the health and the destruction of both the physical and the social bodies. Finally, Camus’s use of nature imagery results in highly lyrical descriptions; such passages encapsulate Camus’s own identification with nature and his ability to deal with landscape narrative in an intense and moving poetic style. Such lyrical undertones in nature imagery are an important stylistic feature of Camus’s prose technique, both in his early essays and imaginative writing. The narrative device also speaks to the allegorical nature of The Plague, adding layers of meaning to the literal description of physical destruction that epidemics bring about. Thus catastrophic nature imagery in The Plague relates to Camus’s personal experience with tuberculosis, to the historical context of France under Nazi occupation in WWII, and may equally be considered a literary expression of Camus’s deep-felt humanism.

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 10, Issue 4) This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature and Pandemic
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12
Page(s)	203-209
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Pandemic Literature, Albert Camus, The Plague, Nature Imagery, Human Suffering, Death and Epidemics, Landscape Description, Allegory

References

[1]	Smith, Charles Forster (trans.). Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War, Books I and II. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, 2003 [1928]: 344-347.
[2]	Camus, Albert. The Plague. Trans. Stuart Gilbert. New York: The Modern Library, 1948: 213, 259, 259-260, 193, 238, 233, 162.
[3]	Camus, Albert. Notebooks 1942-1951. Trans. Justin O’Brien. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1965: 38, 53-54.
[4]	Todd, Oliver. Albert Camus. A Life. Trans. Benjamin Ivry. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997: 168, 138, 162, 150, 153.
[5]	Demont, Paul. “La Peste: un inédit d’Albert Camus, lecteur de Thucydide.” Antike und Abendland 42.1 (1996): 137-154.
[6]	Kohn, George C. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence. From Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001: 5-6.
[7]	The Iliad of Homer. Trans. Richard Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961: 417.
[8]	Jones, Peter (ed.). Reading Virgil. Aeneid I and II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011: 71-91.
[9]	Filardo-Llamas, Laura. “No es lo mismo estar en guerra que remar juntos: la importancia de las metáforas sobre covid-19”. The Conversation, September 15, 2020. https://theconversation.com/no-es-lo-mismo-estar-en-guerra-que-remar-juntos-la-importancia-de-las-metaforas-sobre-covid-19-144337 (last accessed March 9, 2022).
[10]	“Read: Pope Francis’ Urbi et Orbi address on coronavirus and Jesus calming the storm.” America. The Jesuit Review. March 27, 2020. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/03/27/ read-pope-francis-urbi-et-orbi-address-coronavirus-and-jesus-calming-storm (last accessed March 9, 2022).
[11]	ABC World News. “COVID-19 ‘spreading like wildfire’ despite increasing vaccination numbers.” April 11, 2021. https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/covid-19-spreading-wildfire-increasing-vaccination-numbers-77011391 (last accessed March 11, 2022).
[12]	Camus, Albert. La peste. Paris: Gallimard, 2014 [1947]: 257-259, 261, 195.
[13]	Gray, Margaret E. “Layers of Meaning in La Peste.” In The Cambridge Companion to Camus. Ed. Edward J Hughes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007: 167-177.
[14]	Kellman, Steven G. “From Oran to San Francisco: Shilts Appropiates Camus.” College Literature 24.1 (1997): 202-212; 202, 203.
[15]	Genesis. Trans. Robert Alter. New York: Norton, 1997: 3, 8.
[16]	Fitting, Jean-William. “From Breathing to Respiration.” Respiration 89.1 (2015): 82-87.
[17]	Picon, Gaëtan. “Notes on The Plague.” In Camus. A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Germaine Brée. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall, 1962: 146, 148-9.
[18]	John, S. Beynon. “Image and Symbol in the Work of Albert Camus.” French Studies 9.1 (1955): 50; 43.
[19]	McCarthy, Patrick. “The Plague.” In Modern Critical Views. Albert Camus. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York-Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989: 107-114.
[20]	Porter, Katherine Anne. “Pale Horse, Pale Rider.” In The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 1972 [1930]: 269-317; final quote from p. 309.
[21]	Camus, Albert. Notebooks 1935-1942. Trans. Philip Thody. New York: The Modern Library, 1963: 164, 172-173.
[22]	Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Tribute to Albert Camus.” In Critical Essays on Albert Camus. Ed. Bettina L. Knapp. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1988: 165.

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Jaime González-Ocaña. (2022). Nature Imagery and Human Suffering in Albert Camus’s The Plague. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 10(4), 203-209. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12

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Jaime González-Ocaña. Nature Imagery and Human Suffering in Albert Camus’s The Plague. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2022, 10(4), 203-209. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12

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AMA Style

Jaime González-Ocaña. Nature Imagery and Human Suffering in Albert Camus’s The Plague. Int J Lit Arts. 2022;10(4):203-209. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12,
  author = {Jaime González-Ocaña},
  title = {Nature Imagery and Human Suffering in Albert Camus’s The Plague},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {10},
  number = {4},
  pages = {203-209},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20221004.12},
  abstract = {In The Plague, to describe the physical damage that infectious disease inflicts on the sick at Oran, Camus’s narrator uses lyrical images that identify the disease with natural phenomena and catastrophic natural events. This paper first examines the formal literary dimension of nature description and deadly infection in The Plague. The narrative device is especially abundant in describing several characters’ final moments: heat and flames; atmospheric elements, particularly those related to the wind and air currents; and maritime imagery all combine to communicate the tragic end of the infected and the destruction of their bodies. In addition, the narrator associates the heat/wind imagery with anatomical references to the chest or the lungs to typify the advancement of the disease and the loss of life. This mechanism alludes to the health and the destruction of both the physical and the social bodies. Finally, Camus’s use of nature imagery results in highly lyrical descriptions; such passages encapsulate Camus’s own identification with nature and his ability to deal with landscape narrative in an intense and moving poetic style. Such lyrical undertones in nature imagery are an important stylistic feature of Camus’s prose technique, both in his early essays and imaginative writing. The narrative device also speaks to the allegorical nature of The Plague, adding layers of meaning to the literal description of physical destruction that epidemics bring about. Thus catastrophic nature imagery in The Plague relates to Camus’s personal experience with tuberculosis, to the historical context of France under Nazi occupation in WWII, and may equally be considered a literary expression of Camus’s deep-felt humanism.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Nature Imagery and Human Suffering in Albert Camus’s The Plague
AU  - Jaime González-Ocaña
Y1  - 2022/07/26
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 203
EP  - 209
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12
AB  - In The Plague, to describe the physical damage that infectious disease inflicts on the sick at Oran, Camus’s narrator uses lyrical images that identify the disease with natural phenomena and catastrophic natural events. This paper first examines the formal literary dimension of nature description and deadly infection in The Plague. The narrative device is especially abundant in describing several characters’ final moments: heat and flames; atmospheric elements, particularly those related to the wind and air currents; and maritime imagery all combine to communicate the tragic end of the infected and the destruction of their bodies. In addition, the narrator associates the heat/wind imagery with anatomical references to the chest or the lungs to typify the advancement of the disease and the loss of life. This mechanism alludes to the health and the destruction of both the physical and the social bodies. Finally, Camus’s use of nature imagery results in highly lyrical descriptions; such passages encapsulate Camus’s own identification with nature and his ability to deal with landscape narrative in an intense and moving poetic style. Such lyrical undertones in nature imagery are an important stylistic feature of Camus’s prose technique, both in his early essays and imaginative writing. The narrative device also speaks to the allegorical nature of The Plague, adding layers of meaning to the literal description of physical destruction that epidemics bring about. Thus catastrophic nature imagery in The Plague relates to Camus’s personal experience with tuberculosis, to the historical context of France under Nazi occupation in WWII, and may equally be considered a literary expression of Camus’s deep-felt humanism.
VL  - 10
IS  - 4
ER  -

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Jaime González-Ocaña

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APA Style

Jaime González-Ocaña. (2022). Nature Imagery and Human Suffering in Albert Camus’s The Plague. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 10(4), 203-209. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12

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ACS Style

Jaime González-Ocaña. Nature Imagery and Human Suffering in Albert Camus’s The Plague. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2022, 10(4), 203-209. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12

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AMA Style

Jaime González-Ocaña. Nature Imagery and Human Suffering in Albert Camus’s The Plague. Int J Lit Arts. 2022;10(4):203-209. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12,
  author = {Jaime González-Ocaña},
  title = {Nature Imagery and Human Suffering in Albert Camus’s The Plague},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {10},
  number = {4},
  pages = {203-209},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20221004.12},
  abstract = {In The Plague, to describe the physical damage that infectious disease inflicts on the sick at Oran, Camus’s narrator uses lyrical images that identify the disease with natural phenomena and catastrophic natural events. This paper first examines the formal literary dimension of nature description and deadly infection in The Plague. The narrative device is especially abundant in describing several characters’ final moments: heat and flames; atmospheric elements, particularly those related to the wind and air currents; and maritime imagery all combine to communicate the tragic end of the infected and the destruction of their bodies. In addition, the narrator associates the heat/wind imagery with anatomical references to the chest or the lungs to typify the advancement of the disease and the loss of life. This mechanism alludes to the health and the destruction of both the physical and the social bodies. Finally, Camus’s use of nature imagery results in highly lyrical descriptions; such passages encapsulate Camus’s own identification with nature and his ability to deal with landscape narrative in an intense and moving poetic style. Such lyrical undertones in nature imagery are an important stylistic feature of Camus’s prose technique, both in his early essays and imaginative writing. The narrative device also speaks to the allegorical nature of The Plague, adding layers of meaning to the literal description of physical destruction that epidemics bring about. Thus catastrophic nature imagery in The Plague relates to Camus’s personal experience with tuberculosis, to the historical context of France under Nazi occupation in WWII, and may equally be considered a literary expression of Camus’s deep-felt humanism.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Nature Imagery and Human Suffering in Albert Camus’s The Plague
AU  - Jaime González-Ocaña
Y1  - 2022/07/26
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 203
EP  - 209
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.12
AB  - In The Plague, to describe the physical damage that infectious disease inflicts on the sick at Oran, Camus’s narrator uses lyrical images that identify the disease with natural phenomena and catastrophic natural events. This paper first examines the formal literary dimension of nature description and deadly infection in The Plague. The narrative device is especially abundant in describing several characters’ final moments: heat and flames; atmospheric elements, particularly those related to the wind and air currents; and maritime imagery all combine to communicate the tragic end of the infected and the destruction of their bodies. In addition, the narrator associates the heat/wind imagery with anatomical references to the chest or the lungs to typify the advancement of the disease and the loss of life. This mechanism alludes to the health and the destruction of both the physical and the social bodies. Finally, Camus’s use of nature imagery results in highly lyrical descriptions; such passages encapsulate Camus’s own identification with nature and his ability to deal with landscape narrative in an intense and moving poetic style. Such lyrical undertones in nature imagery are an important stylistic feature of Camus’s prose technique, both in his early essays and imaginative writing. The narrative device also speaks to the allegorical nature of The Plague, adding layers of meaning to the literal description of physical destruction that epidemics bring about. Thus catastrophic nature imagery in The Plague relates to Camus’s personal experience with tuberculosis, to the historical context of France under Nazi occupation in WWII, and may equally be considered a literary expression of Camus’s deep-felt humanism.
VL  - 10
IS  - 4
ER  -

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