Editing The Plague (novel) (section)

==Critical analysis==
[[File:Albert Camus 1945 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Camus in 1945]]
[[Germaine Brée]] has characterised the struggle of the characters against the plague as "undramatic and stubborn", and in contrast to the ideology of "glorification of power" in the novels of [[André Malraux]], whereas Camus's characters "are obscurely engaged in saving, not destroying, and this in the name of no ideology".<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=2929136 | last=Sterling | first=Elwyn F | title=Albert Camus and the Plague | journal=Yale French Studies | issue= 8| pages=93–100 | date=1951 | doi=10.2307/2929136 }}</ref> Lulu Haroutunian has discussed Camus's own medical history, including a bout with tuberculosis, and how it informs the novel.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=3042843 | last=Haroutunian | first=Lulu M | title=Albert Camus and the White Plague | journal=MLN | volume=79 | issue=3 | pages=311–315 | date=May 1964 | doi=10.2307/3042843 }}</ref> [[Marina Warner]] notes its larger philosophical themes of "engagement", "paltriness and generosity", "small heroism and large cowardice", and "all kinds of profoundly humanist problems, such as love and goodness, happiness and mutual connection".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/apr/26/classics.albertcamus | title=To be a man | work=The Guardian | author=Marina Warner | date=2003-04-26 | access-date=2016-07-08}}</ref>

Thomas L Hanna and John Loose have separately discussed themes related to Christianity in the novel, with particular respect to Father Paneloux and Dr Rieux.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=1201083 | last=Hanna | first=Thomas L | title=Albert Camus and the Christian Faith | journal=The Journal of Religion | volume=36 | issue=4 | pages=224–233 | date=October 1956 | doi=10.1086/484811 | s2cid=170222270 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | jstor=1201321 | last=Loose | first=John | title=The Christian as Camus's Absurd Man | journal=The Journal of Religion | volume=42 | issue=3 | pages=203–214 | date=July 1962 | doi=10.1086/485456 | s2cid=171082793 }}</ref> Louis R Rossi briefly discusses the role of Tarrou in the novel, and the sense of philosophical guilt behind his character.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=4333870 | last=Rossi | first=Louis R | title=Albert Camus: The Plague of Absurdity | journal=The Kenyon Review | volume=20 | issue=3 | pages=399–422 | date=Summer 1958 }}</ref> Elwyn Sterling has analysed the role of Cottard and his final actions at the end of the novel.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=25111699 | last=Sterling | first=Elwyn F | title=Albert Camus' "La Peste": Cottard's Act of Madness | journal=College Literature | volume=13 | issue=2 | pages=189–209 | date=Spring 1986 }}</ref> Father Paneloux has been subject to several literary analyses in the context of faith faced with great suffering.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bentley|first=Wessel|date=2020-10-20|title=Reflections on the characters of Dr Rieux and Fr Paneloux in Camus' The Plague in a consideration of human suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic|url=https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6087|journal=HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies|language=en|volume=76|issue=4|pages=7|doi=10.4102/hts.v76i4.6087|s2cid=226340393|issn=2072-8050|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ice|first=Tamela|date=2006-09-01|title=Does Paneloux Lose Faith? Rethinking the Relationship Between Belief and Action in Camus' ''The Plague''|url=https://journals.ku.edu/auslegung/article/view/13191|journal=Auslegung: A Journal of Philosophy|language=en|volume=28|issue=2|pages=1–17|doi=10.17161/AJP.1808.9666|issn=0733-4311|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Dr Rieux has been described as a classic example of an idealist doctor.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Surawicz|first1=Borys|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CUqzDAAAQBAJ&q=%22Bernard+Rieux%22&pg=PA74|title=Doctors in Fiction: Lessons from Literature|last2=Jacobson|first2=Beverly|date=2016-07-06|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-138-03098-5|pages=74–80|language=en}}</ref> He has also been an inspiration to the life and career of the French doctor Réjean Thomas, and also to the fictional character of Jeanne Dion, starring in the movie trilogy directed by [[Bernard Émond]] (beginning with ''[[The Novena]]'').<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bastien|first=Sophie|date=2015|title=Le docteur Rieux d'Albert Camus: un mentor au Québec, de la réalité à la fiction cinématographique|url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/globe/2015-v18-n1-globe02707/1037885ar/|journal=Globe: Revue internationale d'études québécoises|language=fr|volume=18|issue=1|pages=211–226|doi=10.7202/1037885ar|issn=1481-5869}}</ref>

Perri Klass has noted that at the time of the novel, [[Sulfonamide (medicine)|sulfa drugs]] were available for treatment against plague, and has criticised the novel for this historical-medical omission.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Klass |first1=Perri |title="It's Hardly Credible" — Medical Readers and Literary Plague |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |date=16 June 2022 |volume=386 |issue=24 |pages=2257–2259 |doi=10.1056/NEJMp2119103 |pmid=35687048 |access-date= 21 June 2022 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35687048/}}</ref>

Journalist [[Carlos Maza]] conducted a critical deep dive into the novel, drawing parallels to the contemporary political climate, including [[Trumpism]] and the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref>{{cite AV media
|last        = Maza
|first       = Carlos
|date        = 2024-04-25
|title       = How To Be Hopeless
|url         = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJaE_BvLK6U
|format      = Video
|work        = Carlos Maza (YouTube channel)
|type        = YouTube video
|language    = English
|publisher   = YouTube
|access-date = 2025-05-18
}}
</ref>