The plague as a representation of the totalitarian phenomenon in the 20th century in Albert Camus
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25247/P1982-999X.2022.v22n3.p77-97Keywords:
Violence, Totalitarianism, Politics, Ethics, RevoltAbstract
The symbolism of the Plague as a representation of death or barbarism has been established in the Western imagination for many centuries. Humanity has already experienced an incalculable amount of scourges and part of Albert Camus’ work is built upon this symbolic relationship between scourges and human suffering. This paper aims to show how Albert Camus uses a few of the Plague’s signifiers to represent some aspects of the totalitarian phenomenon of the 20th century and to point out a few characteristics of totalitarianism that are reflected in THE PLAGUE (1947), in the author’s speeches and conferences, and in the philosophical essay THE REBEL (1951). This paper also seeks to show the symbolic relationship between the “plague” and its symptoms with the ethical questions faced by the West and, once all the relevant consequences of the Plague are established, to identify the actions that Camus promotes for the fight against barbarism and violence through the concept of Revolt.
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