"No, Father. I've a very different idea of love. And until my dying day I shall refuse to love a scheme of things in which children are put to torture." -Rieux
@@PeoplesScience I've recently discovered and been enjoying and working on a concept called speed reading. It's not a 'feel-killer'. If anything, it has made my reading experience more interactive and enjoyable. I'd say please watch some videos on it. The only thing I've been doing is taking a pencil in my hand and going line by line with it with slightly increased speed than my normal reading speed. That's all. But it's made a world of difference.
@@menelvegor I find the speed reading is ok for works that are more just purely entertaining and plot driven. Things that would be described as "page turners." It's not so great on more cerebral works of fiction, for me anyway. Like a Dellilo or a Vonnegut or Palahniuk. I miss too many things that i should have took more time to digest and think about critically. Finding a balance between those two types of books is key for me staying on top of my reading habit and not slacking off. I try to have one of each kind and one nonfiction going at any point so i can switch up if one of em drags.
Currently reading "The Myth of Sisyphus" by Camus. Definitely one of the philosophers I enjoy reading the most. He mixes strong stortelling and beautiful, poetic prose with a very dry, cynical sense of humor.
I can never remember which is it - is he free while he's rolling the stone and thinking of nothing else, or is he free when he's walking back to the stone dreading the toil of rolling it again?
james duggan Neither; he is free when he makes the decision to go back down the hill to get the stone while realizing the absurdity of pushing it up again only for it to once again roll down. It’s the freedom of steely resolve to continue against the pointlessness of it all
@@GourdyLee Agreed ... He 'Accepts' his fate; what is happening; the matrix of it all, etc... That is, he doesn't 'fight it'--which is the opposite (or inversion) of toiling--he is Happy.
If you prefer novels that focus on the individual more than the collective, anything by Dostoevsky. Especially Crime and Punishment and Brothers Karamazov. Highly complex characters that are more real than most people I've met.
@@funkydisciple oh boy there are many. My favourite to this day has been Crime and Punishment. Brothers Karamazov is a very very close second. These two are perhaps the best I've ever read. There's also 'Poor Folk' which is just heart wrenching. Notes from Underground is great too and if I remember correctly, Cliff has reviewed that one.
Funky Disciple start with Notes From The Underground and a short story called White Nights. Then go for Crime and Punishment. Once you’ve read that you’ll want to read all Dostoevsky.
White noise is amazing. I read it in prison and it blew my mind. Hilarious, in the same way American Pyscho is, and, actually stylized the same way that Ellis stylized AP, too. I will never understand the love King fans bestow upon The Stand. I'm a huge King fan. I've read all but a handful of his books, many of them more than twice. Read The Stand twice, and, it has some good parts, but it suffers more than any King book in the way that many King books do--the ending is pretty weak. There is so many threads that he sets up, so many characters perspectives that the story is told through, and they all end with a quick and unsatisfying whimper. I kept waiting for the profound climax to happen, and when it does, it's just a couple pages that undermind the story completely in my estimation...Two other problems: Mother Abigail and Randall Flagg. They are both completely and utterly worthless. I get that mother Abigail was supposed to be an allegory for Jesus' life, but, in the end, all she does is waste the character's time and does more harm then good. And Randall Flagg--set up to be the ultimate badass bad guy, and he almost lives up to it at some points in the book. But, after the whole thing was over and I went back to mull over what he did throughout the book, especially at certain key points, I realized that he's just a fucking idiot. I wouldn't have the guy umpire a little league t-ball game for fuck's sakes. Capital 'I' Incompetent...If your'e gonna read it now, at least the best parts of that book are the first 400-ish pages when the super flu is raging. That's the redeemable part of the book in my eyes.
@@jewfroDZak Oh my gosh, you mean there's another person out there who hates The Stand as much as I do? Seriously, I felt robbed when I got to the end of that book. It literally doesn't even make sense! Mother Abigail is a walking stereotype, Randall Flagg just loses his powers towards the end of the book for convenience's sake, and the book never actually tried to grapple with any of the themes which it could have with its premise. That book made me fall out of love with King.
@@TH3F4LC0Nx I'm glad that it wasnt my first King book or I might not have read another one. I get incensed when I hear a fellow Kingaphile suggest The Stand as the first King book someone who is interested in his books should read. Literally, any book but that one, even From A Buick 8 or Bag of Bones, but not The Stand....Honestly, another sacred cow book of his I often hear mentioned as people's favorite, IT--not really my bag either. Probably not top 40. I prefer every single Bachman book over either IT or The Stand (granted, two of the Bachman books are two of his finest works, in my opinion...still)
This book striked me particularly. I finished reading 3 weeks ago and I could totally feel what he was saying but I needed some time to digest it. After more than 6 years, I would graduate in medicine next december. Everything was postponed. I have been feeling this despair of suspended life, and as I am working as intern of med in the frontline, I feel like the protagonist of this story repeateadly needing to supress what makes me human to keep going on, or else I will crumble. I find myself talking to the many physicians and nurses I am friend of and this feeling is general, opressive as you see your equals dying and in a glimpse you have to deal with your own mortality. This last six years I have studied psychology and medicine and I could say it was common, but now I am feeling it and it is huge. That said, this is the reason why I could understand the ongoing repetitiveness of one of these central points in Camus writing of The Plague. Because it strikes me repeateadly, everyday, almost as a shadow in these days of agony here in Brazil. And as you may be watching, our president behaviours as he is commanding a genocide (what I think he is doing) and puts us, health Professional workers, as the enemies. Almost as The Strangers.
One of the best so far. Excellent review. I vote continue to discuss positive/negatives from your reading experience. Even in my favourite books, I find things I care for less than other aspects.
Read this in French and I welled up in tears after finally reading it in English. So relevant to this day. That's the point of the book. The book did its job. It's an absurdity in its essence. "Live to the point of tears."
I read, "The Plaque" last year. What I liked the most about it is the way that Camus dives a world that is a town totally cut off and seperated from the rest of the world. His meditation on such an isolated state is art is and of itself.
Thanks again for another great book review, Clifford. I shared this one with my Literary Fiction Writers group on Facebook. I'm sure it'll get some discussion going. One of the things that struck me about The Plague, even back when I read it two summers ago, was how all the theaters and cafes filled up with patrons even as the death toll was rising. It seemed they weren't practicing "social distancing," though their action of gathering in public was how the narrator took the temperature of the city population at large, was able to analyze more than just the particular characters in the novel. Definitely not my favorite book, and I wouldn't actually recommend it if it wasn't for our current situation. If you're going to read Camus, I usually recommend The Stranger first. It captures the absurd even better, though the absurd of society is explored more than the absurd universe in that book. Still, I think it hits the tone just right. Anyway, I always appreciate your work and thoughts. Take care, and I hope you're done traveling for a while.
Thank you Brian for this review. I’m reading the plague in Arabic in Aleppo. This book rings so much truth in this city in these tough times that the entire globe in going through.
I do agree with Susan Sontag-- interpretation is a damn good way of mutilating whatever soul lives in an original work of art. Freud, for all his gifts, truly threw us into the shit with that one.
"What a pity that to reach God we must pass through faith" - Cioran The aesthetic, metaphysical and existential problem of the boy dying from a disease and how to reconcile this with the belief in a loving God (because the argument doesn't invalidate all possible forms of a god or of a transcendence) clearly comes from Ivan Karamazov in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, where Ivan's argument is basically the same. At the same time, Camus wasn't ignorant about religion as if he was like an angst teen. When he was 23, Camus wrote a thesis about Plotinus, Augustine and Primitive Christianity. Saint Augustine was one of Camus's influences. He was also influenced by other famous religious authors like Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Do you think Camus' work falls under the "Novel of Ideas" concept; similar to Dostoesvsky's "The Brothers Karamazov"?
@@1997theanimator Yes, the typical philosophical novels represented by authors like Sade, Dostoevsky and Thomas Mann. On the other hand, Meursault from Camus's The Stranger is a completely different type of character from Dostoevsky's characters for example. Raskolnikov is a normal person who tries to live according to a philosophical conclusion, but ultimately fails. Meursault is not describe as a normal person, he isn't someone trying to follow a nihilistic and/or a completely amoral worldview, he doesn't have speeches and monologues that a Dostoevskian character would have, he is the personification of nothingness.
Hi Clifford, just want to say thank you for your cathartic videos that are such a valuable distraction from the madness of isolated life, providing unusual reading recommendations beyond anything else on BookTube. That’s it really - thank you and stay safe. We appreciate it.
I really liked this review. The only thing that didn't sit right with me is when you said Rieux didn't seem to be relatable because of how long he held his composure in the face of the absurd, without breaking down. I would say that his ability to keep calm in the face of all of the horrors he was present for is a skill that he acquired by subjecting himself to others' suffering throughout his career as a doctor (and i think this is common for people in the field). I understand the complaint though, as its difficult to relate to a character one sees as cold and shallow. I also think that the scene with Rieux and Tarrou swimming did help in serving as a breath of fresh air, and it helped in fleshing out the characters.
An amazing book I read in 2016 was Blindness, by José Saramago. It also portraits a pandemic reality, but it is much more explicit about the alegory intended with the narration. The world suffer from a blindness pandemic, and begins with the first infected people being quarantined. The reading of it feels like a punch in the stomach, but I recommend.
“cruelly aware that this defeat was final, the last disasterous battle that ends a war and makes peace itself an ill beyond all remedy” (on Tarrou’s death)
I consider Tarrou’s death the moment Rieux breaks: it makes no sense to him and strikes him with his own impotence. Compared to this his wife’s death was an expected grief, and even sitting with his mother, who he loves, he can feel the grief of their inevitable parting. I feel like the whole book is like a love letter to Tarrou, he dedicated his efforts as narrator to preserving his memory.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing that people are reading the plague during quarantine but I'm just saying it should be read at any point in time other than a quarantine period, it's an extremely important work of camus
Your points on atheism and community really struck a chord with me. It’s what I miss most about having been religious as a child, and there really is no substitute. Even from a motivational standpoint, not having a real or imagined spiritual cheerleader in your corner makes pursuing goals feel selfish and lonely. Don’t even get me started on atheism and AA.
Sterre Jalou Alcoholics Anonymous. Many addiction programs have a strong religious component; it can be challenging for addicts (alcohol, narcotics, sex, what have you) to find support communities that don’t use religion as a tool (or in the case of AA, fundamental principal) in recovery.
I felt the exact same thing about the repetitiveness of the story when I read the stranger. Felt like he was trying to really beat me over the head with the meaning as if I couldn't understand it subtly or implicitly. I really feel Camus misses the artistic flair with subtlety and symbolism. Sometimes Camus, to me, reads like he could just be giving me a PowerPoint and describing his thoughts on it, as opposed to showing through a novel, or if you want to keep it with the audiovisual metaphor, a film.
"When I think of Camus insisting years afterward that the German Occupation was like The Plague: it comes and it leaves without a purpose - what an asshole!" Jean-Paul Sartre
The last paragraph of the book is chillingly prophetic. I do believe those who work in the quarantine and hospitals will be inspired, comforted or nurtured the most from this book, though they may not need to bother themselves to read this anyway. Seriously, when another review on The Plague is released, it is hard not to feel bored as this book has become the one book everyone should read right now, but thanks for not making it boring. Btw, anyone interested in TS Eliot's The Waste Land?
I’m so glad I clicked on your video and not Momofuku Milk Bar’s Secret to Amazing Birthday Cake. Thank you for broadcasting such honest reactions and thoughts here. TH-cam’s a funny forum, medium even, and few TH-camrs are able to be authentically engaging. I may not agree with all of your points but especially now, into week 4 of isolation, it’s energizing and comforting to be intellectually challenged in this casual format. Thanks again! Please keep posting ✨
I recently read La Peste; I had read it first many years ago. I was surprised that I still had it. When we move house, I usually throw out books. I thought this must be one of them. But there it was in my bookcase. It impressed me the first time and even more this second time. Another novel about a different sort of plague I also read recently is Nemesis by Philip Roth which concerns the polio outbreak in the 1940's. Of all the novels I have ever read, this is the only one that has made me cry. Several times while reading it I had to stop and put it aside because I was brought to tears.
I remember the leader of Doctors without borders saying this book was the reason she became a doctor; she quoted the line about helping people whether God wanted it or not.
Would you be willing to tell us what you're going to read/review next? I really like to read the book before I watch your reviews. Love the channel man. Keep it up!!!
This was a tough read for me, I’m so glad you helped me make sense of a lot of some of the things my head couldn’t wrap around. Thank you for taking the time out from your view point. I’m glad I read it though.
I remember reading The Plague years ago, but didn’t think much of it at the time. I was far more moved by The Stranger. Anyway, I just came upon my copy a couple days ago while doing some spring cleaning in lockdown, and even though I’m in the middle of a few other books, I though about maybe trying it again, for the reasons you mentioned about the parallel with what’s going on in our own world. Your thoughts on it are appreciated. Be well.
I wish I could see if this review would change if it was made now (March 2021). Something about the duration of this pandemic can really change our insights. I read it in January 2021 and it was probably one of my favorite books ever. I don't mind using characters as "caricatures", I think it's a fun strategy for readers. It believe it helps in exposing the absurd nature of our lives and the roles we eventually play. First time I've stumbled upon this channel, Dom Casmurro brought me here. I'm from Brazil and I was quite proud and interested in watching a foreigner comment on it. I needed that, it's been shameful, let alone tough, to be a brazilian lately. So thanks!
"God's pissed. Have some plague" I know I shouldn't have, but I laughed hard at this. Your sarcastic observatios about Literature is one of the reasons why I subscribed to this channel.
I also believe that Cottard may be the most interesting character on the book, but i do not believe that it was unresolved. I think Cottard felt like an alien his whole life, felt dislocated, not sure how to fit on the society as the rest of the people do. Always having a struggle to live in the society in a "normal" way. During the plague everyone was having trouble living in society. Everyone was feeling alone, so in probably in the first time of his life, he felt like a guide. He felt like he knew better how to live life, while the rest of the city was going nuts. When the plague was over, though, and everybody started to go back to the ordinary lifes that they had, he once again felt absolytely dislocated, maybe even more frustrated with his inability. So he decided to punish those who could live a normal life, he decided release his frustration on those other people that were happy again. On the repetitiveness of Grand's book trying to reach perfection, i believe that this is a commentary over sysiphus struggle. In a way that it means that life is absolutely repetitive, that you do the same things over and over, but happiness also comes from trying to make yourself happier everyday. Everyday trying to make the best of it, even if you're not going anywhere. Even if is variations of the same theme. But that makes me agree with you that the characters are more like flesh-and-blood statements.(that was beautiful, btw)
For your complaint from 19:47, a lack of breaking point from the doctor that is, we may take a look at Bernard Edward Ast. Jr.’s reading: "Rieux might have been able to take the news of his wife's death in a relatively calm fashion for yet another reason. Referring to the time period of August, deep into the plague. Rieux says that separation became the most general and deepest kind of suffering, but he also says that this kind of suffering was losing its "patheticness" (166). Rieux explains that it was not because people were getting accustomed to the conditions, but rather because memories were deteriorating. He explains: "Not that they [people] had forgotten that face. but...it had lost its flesh. They could no longer see it within themselves" (166). If Rieux underwent this same experience, it would explain part of his reaction to being separated from his wife. Absence does not necessarily make the heart grow fonder. Deteriorating memories reduce separation stress. As Rieux points out. this was generally the case for the inhabitants of Oran. Remembered faces lost their flesh: however, we do find an exception with the character of Grand, who retained vivid memories of his loved one."
In some ways the positive from all the quarantines we had is that those of us familiar with anxiety and depression can point the finger and laugh at the people who normally don’t face these issues but who are all falling apart from the quarantines and limitations placed by the pandemic.
I think it can be helpful to read The Plague alongside his longer essay The Rebel, the book is really (among other things) the fictional version of those ideas. He extends his themes from The Myth of Sisyphus in new social directions - how are we to revolt against both the Absurd and the world's injustice, as members of a social group, without leading to tyranny? His solution is something like non-violent resistance (in the novel against the plague, in the essay against slavery or totalitarian communism) premised on common values and solidarity. The famous line: 'I revolt, therefore we exist.' It's very much an ideal to strive for, which is perhaps why Dr Rieux is somewhat unbelievable as a person - he represents that ideal. Great video as usual, and stay safe.
Camus is the writer I would most readily compare to Houellebecq. It was my earlier exposure to French absurdism, particularly Camus and Sartre, that left me immune to Houellebecq’s more depressive realist tendencies, and allowed me see the dark humor, particularly in The Elementary Particles.
I have read that book recently as well and I mostly agree with you. Especially in terms of how relevant it is right now and how identical certain situations and behaviors seem to what we are living through right this moment. I don't think that the whole message or overtone of the book is positive though. In my opinion (I'm not talking about the characters themselves) Camus is more realist than anything else. I find the confirmation of it especially in the last (and at the same time my favorite) paragraph. It doesn't seem very optimistic about the future nor truly pessimistic for that matter. It awakes awareness so to speak. But then again, it is a beauty of books, isn't it? So each of us can read something different from the same story. As always I love the way you talk about books so thank you for that review! ❤ Take care!
I love your reviews, it helps me to decide what to read or not, hehe. I do not know yet to read fiction relating what we are living right now as "la peste" by Camus. Your review reminds me a book I read in the past, Blindness by Jose Saramago.
If anyone's looking for a more recent, and I think more deft, handling of a plague/pandemic, check out Nobber by Oisín Fagan (2019). The book takes place in Ireland during the Black Plague in 1348, though I wouldn't categorize it as simply historical fiction. Rather, I think Fagan simply uses the Black Plague to think about a lot of contemporary issues, particularly those affecting the younger generations. I really think this book will gather a "cult following" in the near future and I can't recommend it enough!
The Plague could be a stand-alone fiction chronicling the plague as in reality, and done very well. But I think it's an underlying fable: he concentrates on it occurring in one town(that usually doesn't happen folks!). Camus makes statements for ‘all that had had to be done, and that men doubtless would have to do again against terror and it’s tireless weapons, whatever might be their personal anguish.’ The idea of resistance to this force of unnamable terror. Camus at the time of writing(1947) was in Paris working for the resistance. The ending is symbolical too: the idea of the bacillus lying around in books and clothes for years waiting to strike again. Camus liked Kafka. Also what he says about the child's death: "And until my dying day I shall refuse to love a scheme of things in which children are put to torture." Camus made a lot about the fight vs. totalitarianism.
when Tarrou talks to Rieux about his relation with his father, more precisely about the trial of a man who will receive death sentence, is this man Meursault from L'Étranger? I felt like it was a reference to him
Camus's description of bubonic plague is like the Black Death of the 14th Century. with patients having multiple buboes. Normally, plague patients have only one bubo. It is thought that the strain producing the Black Death is different.
Just finished reading The Plague before watching this video. My shelter-at-home reading includes more than pandemic-related material, but books on that topic include: The Last Man by Mary Shelley (free download at Project Gutenberg) The Stand by Stephen King The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry (highly recommended) A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe (free at PG; although considered fiction, it's based on his uncle's diary) An Account of the Plague Which Raged at Moscow in 1771 by Charles DeMerten, MD (free at PG) Decades ago I had read The Decameron by Boccaccio. Especially when reading the nonfiction accounts, I'm struck by how so many past mistakes keep getting repeated. Stay safe and healthy, everyone.
The two books I would recommend for a plague reading list are war of the worlds by HG Wells which is nice because you can read it two ways. The first is from the perspective of the humans, and that’s fine. Secondly, I like reading it from the perspective of the aliens because then it’s like a fantastical reimagining of The disease transfer between the Europeans and the Native Americans during the Columbian exchange going in reverse. Then, the war of the worlds is almost like “yeah these giant ships came from across the ocean and a couple of them arrived and then we never heard from them again.” oblivious to the destruction the disease unleashed all over Europe. Also, a couple of years ago someone wrote a sequel to this book called the massacre of mankind where the aliens come back and kill absolutely everybody. If you’re in a nihilistic mood, maybe that might be a fun read. I haven’t read that sequel, but I do have it. The other book I would recommend is a journal in the life of a plague year by Daniel Defoe. If you want to get another rec., perhaps spoon River anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, which is conversations between corpses in a graveyard that’s told in verse. All of these are available for free on project Gutenberg, if you’re interested in getting it for free. Regardless, hope everybody reading this comment is safe with a good book.
I actually live in the city where the book events took place (Oran).. when lockdown was imposed i was like I have to read it again what a better time lol
Not to dismiss thy wonderful review of The Plague, but it's commendable that you are supporting the coffee industry, too ... Hear hear, to Literature & Coffee!
don't really know where he went there... I'm an atheist and I don't share any of his sentiments on religion. A sense of community can be derived from so many other things than religion. His comparison seems more like positively attributing the staying at home when you are sick, to the disease.
Coincidentally, I was reading the final pages of this book when China was going into lockdown. Very surrealistic to see most of the book happen all over the world a few weeks later. I liked it but the first few chapters - the ones dealing with the plague of rats - are obviously the best.
I'd like to ad another book for consideration in regards to plague, and the Covid-19 issue; and that's Barbara Tuchman's 1978 book on the Black Plague during the 14th century, called 'A Distant Mirror.' It's a 597 page book (not including footnotes), but for a fantastic, and in-depth look into what plague can do to a society, it's economics, it's religious and moral climate, it's political effects, etc., this is a great book to consider reading. Also, Albert Camus did a lot of research into this topic before writing his book, The Plague. Both books may seem a morbid topic to read, but for me it was, and is, an excellent reminder that we have no promises assuring our individual, or social cohesion. But that's good to know. Better informed than ignorant of the dangers. (Hint---injecting disinfectants into your body, or putting strong lights into it, isn't going to help with Covid-19, despite what ODL may suggest.)
you are gonna absolutely love the stand sir, it really is terrific. I am currently reading Misery by Mr. King and it is turning out to be a fantastic albeit disturbing read :D
@@agrainofmalt Yeah, but honestly, it's what I need at this time. It's gotten to a point during the pandemic where anything idealistically happy just looks idiotic and vapid. Like a cookie cutter and limp self help poster posted on instagram.
"Portland is the coffee town".... you should travel to the south of Tolima, Colombia. There you will found the best coffee of the world in each corner...im just saying.
had the book since a kid, now a creepy vintage edition, the cover always scared me to death and made me not read it...but in my own perverse homeopathic way, this is the best time...I loved what you said about how not witnessing the "breaking point" of a character makes him less...real, relatable, human...this is what I have always felt and lived by in any relationship that is long term and closer...when there is no sign of even a small crack in the armour I lose interest for lack of authenticity, but the truth is that many people do live like that...they are inauthentic to themselves, and live on the margins of who they even are....
I finished the 800 or so pages of A Little Life (i don't know if you've read it or if you'll like it even, but it's regarded as a modern classic) in 2-3 days, I think this is a very focused reading time for me at the moment!
15:30 I'm not sure if hopeful or optimistic is the right word. I always loved a quote from The Rebel where he says that optimism doesn't cut it in the depths of our suffering and we must instead cultivate courage to replace it. But then again, without hope and optimism, can one really live?
Four years later, we now know that The Rona is nothing like The Plague. Children did not die of it. Those adults who did die, died of pneumonia, generally considered such a gentle death, it has earned the nickname "the old people's friend." We noticed that children's welfare was systematically sacrificed, supposedly to benefit adults. Which it didn't, really. Children kept out of school to protect the teachers, very few of whom were in a risk group. People ordered to stay indoors where they could infect each other, instead of outdoors where they would the sun kills the virus. Camus describes the banality of virtue, while our response to CoViD showed the banality of evil. Fascinating. (Yeah, I must quote Spock in this matter.)
I think most atheists are still religious (and i'm telling you this as an atheist), they just changed one faith for another, in the sense that most have accepted some "dogma" upon which they base their entire life. They make friends that think alike and shun those who don't, they believe that some things are absolutely moral or amoral, they persecute the "unbelievers", they gather in secular churches, etc. Abrahamic religions are dying in the west (and in those inmigrants who have integrated), but not the insidous parts of religiosity. I think faith is just something intrisic for the vast majority of human beings, for worse or better.
Is anyone else struggling with finishing this book???? I started it over Xmas, and now I'm only 40 pages in (I don't read as much as I used to, but I'm trying to get back into it) Maybe it's just not for me?? I feel kinda annoyed I'm not liking this classic, as people have called it...
When Christianity began people certainly knew that the world and nature is cruel and indifferent to us as individuals. That is why the Old Testament makes clear: Nature is not in any way divine, do not worship it, CONTROL IT! And do not forget: The central symbol of Christianity is an instrument of torture, Jesus was ridiculed and tortured to death. Martin Luther makes it cear enough: This world is ruled by the devil. Jesus said to the devil: Okay, have power over the world, my kingdom is not of this world. And death is REAL, the soul is not immortal like Plato thought. So, Christianity is not a wellness religion, it has no illusions whatsoever about nature and our world. What it gives us is only the hope: This here is not all there is, we will be helped to get out of this shit, we will be revived AFTER our real deaths, somehow we'll find out that it all made sense to put us here, and the main thing: IT IS UP TO YOU, LOVE PEOPLE even if they are damned peaces of shit (massea damnata as Augustine, the father of the church said we all are) AND HELP THEM!
Just to add to what you said. Satan was only given this power because Adam and Eve so deeply craved knowledge of good and evil. Now we know all manner of suffering and whine that God gave us free will.
Hello Mr. Sargent, I just discovered this channel. It's gold. Just out of curiosity of a Chinese fan, have you ever tried Chinese literature? I didn't finish all your videos but I didn't see any Chinese literature. I think it would be really interesting. Just a suggestion.
Götter dämmerung what came to me right now is a book called “Wang in love and bondage” this is a collection of three novelas of a writer called Wang Xiaobo. He is a very talented and genius writer, great story teller and brings out fantastic emotions
Répétions is the main ‘theme’ of Camus’s thinking and theory of absurdity. It is his attempt to make the reader ‘feel’ it. Though his work got him a Nobel prize, Camus, Sartre and Russell s philosophies lost their hype with French authors and thinkers (Malraux and Mauroi) when I started my residency in psychiatry. I was told that antidepressants work but that we do not know how. This remains almost true today. I know they work. Religion works and it has a positive effect on health in general. Choosing what works make sense for me. Our mind is limited - statement accepted and confirmed by Camus. What one might expect from the mind to answer? It is the mind itself that tells us that it cannot provide answers! It is either the discovery of what religion says, by reading and meditating as we do in science, literature and philosophy or by doing what Camus suggested in the Absurd, but the latter does not provide a meaning thus besides a self imposed ( helplessness) similar to-what the imprisoned, the nursing home resident and the disabled succumb to, hedonism remains absurd. This is part of what I learned from studying Camus
i recently reread Camus as an experiment for the sheer joy of "fact-checking" 30 years later to whereas i first did encounter Camus, the author with that enormous impact on me as a 17 year old boy, but it didnt work anymore: now we got all that book to live all together in real time and now you cant make the very sharp distinction between fiction or art and the ideas that come to life now in reality of that book, here it lacks that absurdity for real as we experience it...
"The lock down in the book is long. About 10 months"
Yeah wouldnt that be wild
instaBlaster.
"No, Father. I've a very different idea of love. And until my dying day I shall refuse to love a scheme of things in which children are put to torture."
-Rieux
I've finished close to twenty books during my time in lock-down. Still going hard at it! Reading-wise it's been the richest time ever for me.
What's your secret?? I'm struggling with just 2!
I'll be reading more books soon! Review to come on my channel.
@@PeoplesScience I've recently discovered and been enjoying and working on a concept called speed reading. It's not a 'feel-killer'. If anything, it has made my reading experience more interactive and enjoyable. I'd say please watch some videos on it.
The only thing I've been doing is taking a pencil in my hand and going line by line with it with slightly increased speed than my normal reading speed. That's all. But it's made a world of difference.
@@leafyconcern that's really great! I'll be sure to check them!
@@menelvegor I find the speed reading is ok for works that are more just purely entertaining and plot driven. Things that would be described as "page turners." It's not so great on more cerebral works of fiction, for me anyway. Like a Dellilo or a Vonnegut or Palahniuk. I miss too many things that i should have took more time to digest and think about critically. Finding a balance between those two types of books is key for me staying on top of my reading habit and not slacking off. I try to have one of each kind and one nonfiction going at any point so i can switch up if one of em drags.
Currently reading "The Myth of Sisyphus" by Camus. Definitely one of the philosophers I enjoy reading the most. He mixes strong stortelling and beautiful, poetic prose with a very dry, cynical sense of humor.
I can never remember which is it - is he free while he's rolling the stone and thinking of nothing else, or is he free when he's walking back to the stone dreading the toil of rolling it again?
james duggan Neither; he is free when he makes the decision to go back down the hill to get the stone while realizing the absurdity of pushing it up again only for it to once again roll down. It’s the freedom of steely resolve to continue against the pointlessness of it all
@@GourdyLee Agreed ... He 'Accepts' his fate; what is happening; the matrix of it all, etc... That is, he doesn't 'fight it'--which is the opposite (or inversion) of toiling--he is Happy.
If you prefer novels that focus on the individual more than the collective, anything by Dostoevsky. Especially Crime and Punishment and Brothers Karamazov.
Highly complex characters that are more real than most people I've met.
Which book from Dostoevsky you prefer?
@@funkydisciple oh boy there are many. My favourite to this day has been Crime and Punishment. Brothers Karamazov is a very very close second. These two are perhaps the best I've ever read. There's also 'Poor Folk' which is just heart wrenching.
Notes from Underground is great too and if I remember correctly, Cliff has reviewed that one.
Been reading the Idiot lately
Funky Disciple start with Notes From The Underground and a short story called White Nights. Then go for Crime and Punishment. Once you’ve read that you’ll want to read all Dostoevsky.
I liked Notes. I'm gonna read the Gambler next then Crime and Punishment. What are your thoughts on The Idiot?
My quarantine reading list
The Plague
The Road
The Stand
White Noise
Grapes Of Wrath
S C Chapter 25 of Grapes of Wrath is probably my favourite standalone chapter of any book ever. I give it to all my students.
White Noise is my favorite book. So rich in social commentary and language, and perfectly structured.
White noise is amazing. I read it in prison and it blew my mind. Hilarious, in the same way American Pyscho is, and, actually stylized the same way that Ellis stylized AP, too.
I will never understand the love King fans bestow upon The Stand. I'm a huge King fan. I've read all but a handful of his books, many of them more than twice. Read The Stand twice, and, it has some good parts, but it suffers more than any King book in the way that many King books do--the ending is pretty weak. There is so many threads that he sets up, so many characters perspectives that the story is told through, and they all end with a quick and unsatisfying whimper. I kept waiting for the profound climax to happen, and when it does, it's just a couple pages that undermind the story completely in my estimation...Two other problems: Mother Abigail and Randall Flagg. They are both completely and utterly worthless. I get that mother Abigail was supposed to be an allegory for Jesus' life, but, in the end, all she does is waste the character's time and does more harm then good. And Randall Flagg--set up to be the ultimate badass bad guy, and he almost lives up to it at some points in the book. But, after the whole thing was over and I went back to mull over what he did throughout the book, especially at certain key points, I realized that he's just a fucking idiot. I wouldn't have the guy umpire a little league t-ball game for fuck's sakes. Capital 'I' Incompetent...If your'e gonna read it now, at least the best parts of that book are the first 400-ish pages when the super flu is raging. That's the redeemable part of the book in my eyes.
@@jewfroDZak Oh my gosh, you mean there's another person out there who hates The Stand as much as I do? Seriously, I felt robbed when I got to the end of that book. It literally doesn't even make sense! Mother Abigail is a walking stereotype, Randall Flagg just loses his powers towards the end of the book for convenience's sake, and the book never actually tried to grapple with any of the themes which it could have with its premise. That book made me fall out of love with King.
@@TH3F4LC0Nx I'm glad that it wasnt my first King book or I might not have read another one. I get incensed when I hear a fellow Kingaphile suggest The Stand as the first King book someone who is interested in his books should read. Literally, any book but that one, even From A Buick 8 or Bag of Bones, but not The Stand....Honestly, another sacred cow book of his I often hear mentioned as people's favorite, IT--not really my bag either. Probably not top 40. I prefer every single Bachman book over either IT or The Stand (granted, two of the Bachman books are two of his finest works, in my opinion...still)
Thanks Cliff. I especially appreciate your honesty in sharing the issues you have with the novel. Keep well!
This book striked me particularly. I finished reading 3 weeks ago and I could totally feel what he was saying but I needed some time to digest it. After more than 6 years, I would graduate in medicine next december. Everything was postponed. I have been feeling this despair of suspended life, and as I am working as intern of med in the frontline, I feel like the protagonist of this story repeateadly needing to supress what makes me human to keep going on, or else I will crumble. I find myself talking to the many physicians and nurses I am friend of and this feeling is general, opressive as you see your equals dying and in a glimpse you have to deal with your own mortality. This last six years I have studied psychology and medicine and I could say it was common, but now I am feeling it and it is huge.
That said, this is the reason why I could understand the ongoing repetitiveness of one of these central points in Camus writing of The Plague. Because it strikes me repeateadly, everyday, almost as a shadow in these days of agony here in Brazil. And as you may be watching, our president behaviours as he is commanding a genocide (what I think he is doing) and puts us, health Professional workers, as the enemies. Almost as The Strangers.
One of the best so far. Excellent review. I vote continue to discuss positive/negatives from your reading experience. Even in my favourite books, I find things I care for less than other aspects.
Read this in French and I welled up in tears after finally reading it in English. So relevant to this day. That's the point of the book. The book did its job. It's an absurdity in its essence. "Live to the point of tears."
Schopenhauer's Studies in Pessimism are also quite fitting for now
Schopenhauer is always relevant.
@@HughMorristheJoker Schopenhauer is a twat tho
Google made me do it everyone is a twat to an extent, get over yourself.
@@anthrodada8646 Exactly! That's why i always argue for Hitler
I read, "The Plaque" last year. What I liked the most about it is the way that Camus dives a world that is a town totally cut off and seperated from the rest of the world. His meditation on such an isolated state is art is and of itself.
Thanks again for another great book review, Clifford. I shared this one with my Literary Fiction Writers group on Facebook. I'm sure it'll get some discussion going.
One of the things that struck me about The Plague, even back when I read it two summers ago, was how all the theaters and cafes filled up with patrons even as the death toll was rising. It seemed they weren't practicing "social distancing," though their action of gathering in public was how the narrator took the temperature of the city population at large, was able to analyze more than just the particular characters in the novel.
Definitely not my favorite book, and I wouldn't actually recommend it if it wasn't for our current situation. If you're going to read Camus, I usually recommend The Stranger first. It captures the absurd even better, though the absurd of society is explored more than the absurd universe in that book. Still, I think it hits the tone just right.
Anyway, I always appreciate your work and thoughts. Take care, and I hope you're done traveling for a while.
Thank you Brian for this review. I’m reading the plague in Arabic in Aleppo. This book rings so much truth in this city in these tough times that the entire globe in going through.
I do agree with Susan Sontag-- interpretation is a damn good way of mutilating whatever soul lives in an original work of art. Freud, for all his gifts, truly threw us into the shit with that one.
"What a pity that to reach God we must pass through faith" - Cioran
The aesthetic, metaphysical and existential problem of the boy dying from a disease and how to reconcile this with the belief in a loving God (because the argument doesn't invalidate all possible forms of a god or of a transcendence) clearly comes from Ivan Karamazov in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, where Ivan's argument is basically the same.
At the same time, Camus wasn't ignorant about religion as if he was like an angst teen. When he was 23, Camus wrote a thesis about Plotinus, Augustine and Primitive Christianity. Saint Augustine was one of Camus's influences. He was also influenced by other famous religious authors like Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky.
reading ciorans "the trouble with being born" really great.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Do you think Camus' work falls under the "Novel of Ideas" concept; similar to Dostoesvsky's "The Brothers Karamazov"?
@@1997theanimator Yes, the typical philosophical novels represented by authors like Sade, Dostoevsky and Thomas Mann.
On the other hand, Meursault from Camus's The Stranger is a completely different type of character from Dostoevsky's characters for example. Raskolnikov is a normal person who tries to live according to a philosophical conclusion, but ultimately fails. Meursault is not describe as a normal person, he isn't someone trying to follow a nihilistic and/or a completely amoral worldview, he doesn't have speeches and monologues that a Dostoevskian character would have, he is the personification of nothingness.
Hi Clifford, just want to say thank you for your cathartic videos that are such a valuable distraction from the madness of isolated life, providing unusual reading recommendations beyond anything else on BookTube. That’s it really - thank you and stay safe. We appreciate it.
I really liked this review. The only thing that didn't sit right with me is when you said Rieux didn't seem to be relatable because of how long he held his composure in the face of the absurd, without breaking down. I would say that his ability to keep calm in the face of all of the horrors he was present for is a skill that he acquired by subjecting himself to others' suffering throughout his career as a doctor (and i think this is common for people in the field). I understand the complaint though, as its difficult to relate to a character one sees as cold and shallow. I also think that the scene with Rieux and Tarrou swimming did help in serving as a breath of fresh air, and it helped in fleshing out the characters.
An amazing book I read in 2016 was Blindness, by José Saramago. It also portraits a pandemic reality, but it is much more explicit about the alegory intended with the narration. The world suffer from a blindness pandemic, and begins with the first infected people being quarantined. The reading of it feels like a punch in the stomach, but I recommend.
It is THE book to read during this pandemic. Can't recommend it enough!
@@TheLalalalapopopo I've read it years ago and this damned book sticks with you.
yeahhhh definitely a book i can never forget
i'm reading it right now and woah
I just came across this channel. I enjoyed the review very much.
"Mwaaahaa the French champaign..."
It’s fermented in the bottle...
“cruelly aware that this defeat was final, the last disasterous battle that ends a war and makes peace itself an ill beyond all remedy” (on Tarrou’s death)
The strength in this book are the questions it raises! Thanks!!!!!
I guess, Rieux represents what Camus wants us to adapt, the Absurd.
I consider Tarrou’s death the moment Rieux breaks: it makes no sense to him and strikes him with his own impotence. Compared to this his wife’s death was an expected grief, and even sitting with his mother, who he loves, he can feel the grief of their inevitable parting. I feel like the whole book is like a love letter to Tarrou, he dedicated his efforts as narrator to preserving his memory.
Loved the more balanced nature of this review. Gives a bit more of a perspective. Also, great shirt, my man
This video was so good!! Subscribed and notification bell clicked!
Always on topic, stay healthy, Cliff, the world needs you more than ever.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing that people are reading the plague during quarantine but I'm just saying it should be read at any point in time other than a quarantine period, it's an extremely important work of camus
Your points on atheism and community really struck a chord with me. It’s what I miss most about having been religious as a child, and there really is no substitute. Even from a motivational standpoint, not having a real or imagined spiritual cheerleader in your corner makes pursuing goals feel selfish and lonely. Don’t even get me started on atheism and AA.
Sterre Jalou Alcoholics Anonymous. Many addiction programs have a strong religious component; it can be challenging for addicts (alcohol, narcotics, sex, what have you) to find support communities that don’t use religion as a tool (or in the case of AA, fundamental principal) in recovery.
I felt the exact same thing about the repetitiveness of the story when I read the stranger. Felt like he was trying to really beat me over the head with the meaning as if I couldn't understand it subtly or implicitly. I really feel Camus misses the artistic flair with subtlety and symbolism. Sometimes Camus, to me, reads like he could just be giving me a PowerPoint and describing his thoughts on it, as opposed to showing through a novel, or if you want to keep it with the audiovisual metaphor, a film.
"When I think of Camus insisting years afterward that the German Occupation was like The Plague: it comes and it leaves without a purpose - what an asshole!" Jean-Paul Sartre
The last paragraph of the book is chillingly prophetic. I do believe those who work in the quarantine and hospitals will be inspired, comforted or nurtured the most from this book, though they may not need to bother themselves to read this anyway.
Seriously, when another review on The Plague is released, it is hard not to feel bored as this book has become the one book everyone should read right now, but thanks for not making it boring.
Btw, anyone interested in TS Eliot's The Waste Land?
Check out The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.
LOL absolutely
Oooh yes brilliant - loved it years ago - you reminded me to read it again, thank you...
I’m so glad I clicked on your video and not Momofuku Milk Bar’s Secret to Amazing Birthday Cake.
Thank you for broadcasting such honest reactions and thoughts here. TH-cam’s a funny forum, medium even, and few TH-camrs are able to be authentically engaging. I may not agree with all of your points but especially now, into week 4 of isolation, it’s energizing and comforting to be intellectually challenged in this casual format. Thanks again! Please keep posting ✨
I recently read La Peste; I had read it first many years ago. I was surprised that I still had it. When we move house, I usually throw out books. I thought this must be one of them. But there it was in my bookcase. It impressed me the first time and even more this second time. Another novel about a different sort of plague I also read recently is Nemesis by Philip Roth which concerns the polio outbreak in the 1940's.
Of all the novels I have ever read, this is the only one that has made me cry. Several times while reading it I had to stop and put it aside because I was brought to tears.
Hey Cliff. Like hearing your criticisms of a novel, on par with your praises
I remember the leader of Doctors without borders saying this book was the reason she became a doctor; she quoted the line about helping people whether God wanted it or not.
Would you be willing to tell us what you're going to read/review next? I really like to read the book before I watch your reviews. Love the channel man. Keep it up!!!
What a review!! Congrats from Spain
This was a tough read for me, I’m so glad you helped me make sense of a lot of some of the things my head couldn’t wrap around. Thank you for taking the time out from your view point. I’m glad I read it though.
I remember reading The Plague years ago, but didn’t think much of it at the time. I was far more moved by The Stranger. Anyway, I just came upon my copy a couple days ago while doing some spring cleaning in lockdown, and even though I’m in the middle of a few other books, I though about maybe trying it again, for the reasons you mentioned about the parallel with what’s going on in our own world. Your thoughts on it are appreciated. Be well.
Loved this conversation. Wish I was there with you to chat ideas.
"A journal of the plague year" by Daniel Defoe is also an interesting piece to read during quarantine.
I wish I could see if this review would change if it was made now (March 2021). Something about the duration of this pandemic can really change our insights. I read it in January 2021 and it was probably one of my favorite books ever. I don't mind using characters as "caricatures", I think it's a fun strategy for readers. It believe it helps in exposing the absurd nature of our lives and the roles we eventually play.
First time I've stumbled upon this channel, Dom Casmurro brought me here. I'm from Brazil and I was quite proud and interested in watching a foreigner comment on it. I needed that, it's been shameful, let alone tough, to be a brazilian lately. So thanks!
"God's pissed. Have some plague" I know I shouldn't have, but I laughed hard at this. Your sarcastic observatios about Literature is one of the reasons why I subscribed to this channel.
I also believe that Cottard may be the most interesting character on the book, but i do not believe that it was unresolved. I think Cottard felt like an alien his whole life, felt dislocated, not sure how to fit on the society as the rest of the people do. Always having a struggle to live in the society in a "normal" way. During the plague everyone was having trouble living in society. Everyone was feeling alone, so in probably in the first time of his life, he felt like a guide. He felt like he knew better how to live life, while the rest of the city was going nuts. When the plague was over, though, and everybody started to go back to the ordinary lifes that they had, he once again felt absolytely dislocated, maybe even more frustrated with his inability. So he decided to punish those who could live a normal life, he decided release his frustration on those other people that were happy again.
On the repetitiveness of Grand's book trying to reach perfection, i believe that this is a commentary over sysiphus struggle. In a way that it means that life is absolutely repetitive, that you do the same things over and over, but happiness also comes from trying to make yourself happier everyday. Everyday trying to make the best of it, even if you're not going anywhere. Even if is variations of the same theme. But that makes me agree with you that the characters are more like flesh-and-blood statements.(that was beautiful, btw)
For your complaint from 19:47, a lack of breaking point from the doctor that is, we may take a look at Bernard Edward Ast. Jr.’s reading:
"Rieux might have been able to take the news of his wife's death in a relatively calm fashion for yet another reason. Referring to the time period of August, deep into the plague. Rieux says that separation became the most general and deepest kind of suffering, but he also says that this kind of suffering was losing its "patheticness" (166). Rieux explains that it was not because people were getting accustomed to the conditions, but rather because memories were deteriorating. He explains: "Not that they [people] had forgotten that face. but...it had lost its flesh. They could no longer see it within themselves" (166).
If Rieux underwent this same experience, it would explain part of his reaction to being separated from his wife. Absence does not necessarily make the heart grow fonder. Deteriorating memories reduce separation stress. As Rieux points out. this was generally the case for the inhabitants of Oran. Remembered faces lost their flesh: however, we do find an exception with the character of Grand, who retained vivid memories of his loved one."
In some ways the positive from all the quarantines we had is that those of us familiar with anxiety and depression can point the finger and laugh at the people who normally don’t face these issues but who are all falling apart from the quarantines and limitations placed by the pandemic.
I think it can be helpful to read The Plague alongside his longer essay The Rebel, the book is really (among other things) the fictional version of those ideas. He extends his themes from The Myth of Sisyphus in new social directions - how are we to revolt against both the Absurd and the world's injustice, as members of a social group, without leading to tyranny? His solution is something like non-violent resistance (in the novel against the plague, in the essay against slavery or totalitarian communism) premised on common values and solidarity. The famous line: 'I revolt, therefore we exist.' It's very much an ideal to strive for, which is perhaps why Dr Rieux is somewhat unbelievable as a person - he represents that ideal. Great video as usual, and stay safe.
Please review Kierkegaard at some point! Also.... that’s a great jacket, where did you find that great jacket🤔?
Camus is the writer I would most readily compare to Houellebecq. It was my earlier exposure to French absurdism, particularly Camus and Sartre, that left me immune to Houellebecq’s more depressive realist tendencies, and allowed me see the dark humor, particularly in The Elementary Particles.
Of your brilliant reviews I like this one the most, thanks alot
Excellent review, thank you - you’ve helped me understand the novel a lot more :)
Dude, I love your line of questioning on God “No answers on that one.” Perfect moment
This was magnificent,Clifford ;
I am properly grateful
This is the best selling book of the week in my country.
I have read that book recently as well and I mostly agree with you. Especially in terms of how relevant it is right now and how identical certain situations and behaviors seem to what we are living through right this moment.
I don't think that the whole message or overtone of the book is positive though. In my opinion (I'm not talking about the characters themselves) Camus is more realist than anything else. I find the confirmation of it especially in the last (and at the same time my favorite) paragraph. It doesn't seem very optimistic about the future nor truly pessimistic for that matter. It awakes awareness so to speak.
But then again, it is a beauty of books, isn't it? So each of us can read something different from the same story.
As always I love the way you talk about books so thank you for that review! ❤ Take care!
My friend Captain Jack has a HC 1st Ed. 1961 of The Plague worth $95 with dust jacket.
I love your reviews, it helps me to decide what to read or not, hehe. I do not know yet to read fiction relating what we are living right now as "la peste" by Camus. Your review reminds me a book I read in the past, Blindness by Jose Saramago.
One of the best ones so far, really good. Thanks
First book I read 🙆in quarantine was the Plague. Next was the fall after seeing your review of the fall I read that.
If anyone's looking for a more recent, and I think more deft, handling of a plague/pandemic, check out Nobber by Oisín Fagan (2019). The book takes place in Ireland during the Black Plague in 1348, though I wouldn't categorize it as simply historical fiction. Rather, I think Fagan simply uses the Black Plague to think about a lot of contemporary issues, particularly those affecting the younger generations. I really think this book will gather a "cult following" in the near future and I can't recommend it enough!
Because a book called The Plague is exactly what I want to read right now. XD
It actually might be! Camus' books are all uplifting, check 'em out!
The Plague could be a stand-alone fiction chronicling the plague as in reality, and done very well. But I think it's an underlying fable: he concentrates on it occurring in one town(that usually doesn't happen folks!). Camus makes statements for ‘all that had had to be done, and that men doubtless would have to do again against terror and it’s tireless weapons, whatever might be their personal anguish.’ The idea of resistance to this force of unnamable terror.
Camus at the time of writing(1947) was in Paris working for the resistance. The ending is symbolical too: the idea of the bacillus lying around in books and clothes for years waiting to strike again. Camus liked Kafka. Also what he says about the child's death: "And until my dying day I shall refuse to love a scheme of things in which children are put to torture." Camus made a lot about the fight vs. totalitarianism.
Congratulations Liliana-you get-The Plague! 😊
when Tarrou talks to Rieux about his relation with his father, more precisely about the trial of a man who will receive death sentence, is this man Meursault from L'Étranger? I felt like it was a reference to him
Camus's description of bubonic plague is like the Black Death of the 14th Century. with patients having multiple buboes. Normally, plague patients have only one bubo. It is thought that the strain producing the Black Death is different.
Just finished reading The Plague before watching this video. My shelter-at-home reading includes more than pandemic-related material, but books on that topic include:
The Last Man by Mary Shelley (free download at Project Gutenberg)
The Stand by Stephen King
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry (highly recommended)
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe (free at PG; although considered fiction, it's based on his uncle's diary)
An Account of the Plague Which Raged at Moscow in 1771 by Charles DeMerten, MD (free at PG)
Decades ago I had read The Decameron by Boccaccio.
Especially when reading the nonfiction accounts, I'm struck by how so many past mistakes keep getting repeated.
Stay safe and healthy, everyone.
The two books I would recommend for a plague reading list are war of the worlds by HG Wells which is nice because you can read it two ways. The first is from the perspective of the humans, and that’s fine. Secondly, I like reading it from the perspective of the aliens because then it’s like a fantastical reimagining of The disease transfer between the Europeans and the Native Americans during the Columbian exchange going in reverse. Then, the war of the worlds is almost like “yeah these giant ships came from across the ocean and a couple of them arrived and then we never heard from them again.” oblivious to the destruction the disease unleashed all over Europe. Also, a couple of years ago someone wrote a sequel to this book called the massacre of mankind where the aliens come back and kill absolutely everybody. If you’re in a nihilistic mood, maybe that might be a fun read. I haven’t read that sequel, but I do have it.
The other book I would recommend is a journal in the life of a plague year by Daniel Defoe. If you want to get another rec., perhaps spoon River anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, which is conversations between corpses in a graveyard that’s told in verse.
All of these are available for free on project Gutenberg, if you’re interested in getting it for free. Regardless, hope everybody reading this comment is safe with a good book.
I actually live in the city where the book events took place (Oran).. when lockdown was imposed i was like I have to read it again what a better time lol
Not to dismiss thy wonderful review of The Plague, but it's commendable that you are supporting the coffee industry, too ... Hear hear, to Literature & Coffee!
“We don’t even trust ourselves” 🙃
don't really know where he went there...
I'm an atheist and I don't share any of his sentiments on religion. A sense of community can be derived from so many other things than religion. His comparison seems more like positively attributing the staying at home when you are sick, to the disease.
Everything absurd is meaningful, everything meaningful is absurd
Coincidentally, I was reading the final pages of this book when China was going into lockdown. Very surrealistic to see most of the book happen all over the world a few weeks later. I liked it but the first few chapters - the ones dealing with the plague of rats - are obviously the best.
I'd like to ad another book for consideration in regards to plague, and the Covid-19 issue; and that's Barbara Tuchman's 1978 book on the Black Plague during the 14th century, called 'A Distant Mirror.' It's a 597 page book (not including footnotes), but for a fantastic, and in-depth look into what plague can do to a society, it's economics, it's religious and moral climate, it's political effects, etc., this is a great book to consider reading. Also, Albert Camus did a lot of research into this topic before writing his book, The Plague. Both books may seem a morbid topic to read, but for me it was, and is, an excellent reminder that we have no promises assuring our individual, or social cohesion. But that's good to know. Better informed than ignorant of the dangers. (Hint---injecting disinfectants into your body, or putting strong lights into it, isn't going to help with Covid-19, despite what ODL may suggest.)
you are gonna absolutely love the stand sir, it really is terrific. I am currently reading Misery by Mr. King and it is turning out to be a fantastic albeit disturbing read :D
That's my favorite King novel!
Cliff I would like to get your opinion on The Twenty Days of Turin and it's prophetic way of addressing current cultural phenomenons!!
I read Michel Houellebecq's latest Seratonin, which was probably more depressing :D
Currently going thru Elemental Particles in Spanish, for a change. It's very depressing.
@@fernandomercado2711 oh, it is... fantastic book, but utterly miserable.
@@agrainofmalt Yeah, but honestly, it's what I need at this time.
It's gotten to a point during the pandemic where anything idealistically happy just looks idiotic and vapid.
Like a cookie cutter and limp self help poster posted on instagram.
i really like your criticism at the doctor here, hope you doing that more in the future videos
"Portland is the coffee town".... you should travel to the south of Tolima, Colombia. There you will found the best coffee of the world in each corner...im just saying.
Is Arthur Shelby reading books? Sounds strange
had the book since a kid, now a creepy vintage edition, the cover always scared me to death and made me not read it...but in my own perverse homeopathic way, this is the best time...I loved what you said about how not witnessing the "breaking point" of a character makes him less...real, relatable, human...this is what I have always felt and lived by in any relationship that is long term and closer...when there is no sign of even a small crack in the armour I lose interest for lack of authenticity, but the truth is that many people do live like that...they are inauthentic to themselves, and live on the margins of who they even are....
I finished the 800 or so pages of A Little Life (i don't know if you've read it or if you'll like it even, but it's regarded as a modern classic) in 2-3 days, I think this is a very focused reading time for me at the moment!
15:30 I'm not sure if hopeful or optimistic is the right word. I always loved a quote from The Rebel where he says that optimism doesn't cut it in the depths of our suffering and we must instead cultivate courage to replace it. But then again, without hope and optimism, can one really live?
Four years later, we now know that The Rona is nothing like The Plague. Children did not die of it. Those adults who did die, died of pneumonia, generally considered such a gentle death, it has earned the nickname "the old people's friend." We noticed that children's welfare was systematically sacrificed, supposedly to benefit adults. Which it didn't, really. Children kept out of school to protect the teachers, very few of whom were in a risk group. People ordered to stay indoors where they could infect each other, instead of outdoors where they would the sun kills the virus. Camus describes the banality of virtue, while our response to CoViD showed the banality of evil. Fascinating. (Yeah, I must quote Spock in this matter.)
I think most atheists are still religious (and i'm telling you this as an atheist), they just changed one faith for another, in the sense that most have accepted some "dogma" upon which they base their entire life. They make friends that think alike and shun those who don't, they believe that some things are absolutely moral or amoral, they persecute the "unbelievers", they gather in secular churches, etc. Abrahamic religions are dying in the west (and in those inmigrants who have integrated), but not the insidous parts of religiosity. I think faith is just something intrisic for the vast majority of human beings, for worse or better.
Since Christianity has declined in the west we have seen the rise of all sorts of "secular" religions like Marxism, feminism all the isms essentially.
Surprised you didn't like Nausea, I loved that one.
Fair complaint about the characters being representations or symbols. A lot of writers do this (Shaw, Greene, etc.), but it does grate after a point.
I read it many years ago. The resignation was what I remember most.
I love Camus especially The myth of Sisyphus and The rebel
Now.. pls do 1984 vs Brave New World
Is anyone else struggling with finishing this book???? I started it over Xmas, and now I'm only 40 pages in (I don't read as much as I used to, but I'm trying to get back into it) Maybe it's just not for me?? I feel kinda annoyed I'm not liking this classic, as people have called it...
When Christianity began people certainly knew that the world and nature is cruel and indifferent to us as individuals. That is why the Old Testament makes clear: Nature is not in any way divine, do not worship it, CONTROL IT! And do not forget: The central symbol of Christianity is an instrument of torture, Jesus was ridiculed and tortured to death. Martin Luther makes it cear enough: This world is ruled by the devil. Jesus said to the devil: Okay, have power over the world, my kingdom is not of this world. And death is REAL, the soul is not immortal like Plato thought. So, Christianity is not a wellness religion, it has no illusions whatsoever about nature and our world. What it gives us is only the hope: This here is not all there is, we will be helped to get out of this shit, we will be revived AFTER our real deaths, somehow we'll find out that it all made sense to put us here, and the main thing: IT IS UP TO YOU, LOVE PEOPLE even if they are damned peaces of shit (massea damnata as Augustine, the father of the church said we all are) AND HELP THEM!
Just to add to what you said. Satan was only given this power because Adam and Eve so deeply craved knowledge of good and evil. Now we know all manner of suffering and whine that God gave us free will.
Golly an American who has read a book ,Well done, keep it up one day you might even understand Sartre .
I have read The Outsider and started The Myth of Sisyphus but found it tough. I've put it down and started reading I'm with the band lol!
Hello Mr. Sargent, I just discovered this channel. It's gold. Just out of curiosity of a Chinese fan, have you ever tried Chinese literature? I didn't finish all your videos but I didn't see any Chinese literature. I think it would be really interesting. Just a suggestion.
Recommendations?
Götter dämmerung what came to me right now is a book called “Wang in love and bondage” this is a collection of three novelas of a writer called Wang Xiaobo. He is a very talented and genius writer, great story teller and brings out fantastic emotions
Thanks to corona my favorite book gets some love
Répétions is the main ‘theme’ of Camus’s thinking and theory of absurdity. It is his attempt to make the reader ‘feel’ it. Though his work got him a Nobel prize, Camus, Sartre and Russell s philosophies lost their hype with French authors and thinkers (Malraux and Mauroi) when I started my residency in psychiatry. I was told that antidepressants work but that we do not know how. This remains almost true today. I know they work. Religion works and it has a positive effect on health in general. Choosing what works make sense for me. Our mind is limited - statement accepted and confirmed by Camus. What one might expect from the mind to answer? It is the mind itself that tells us that it cannot provide answers! It is either the discovery of what religion says, by reading and meditating as we do in science, literature and philosophy or by doing what Camus suggested in the Absurd, but the latter does not provide a meaning thus besides a self imposed ( helplessness) similar to-what the imprisoned, the nursing home resident and the disabled succumb to, hedonism remains absurd. This is part of what I learned from studying Camus
i recently reread Camus as an experiment for the sheer joy of "fact-checking" 30 years later to whereas i first did encounter Camus, the author with that enormous impact on me as a 17 year old boy, but it didnt work anymore: now we got all that book to live all together in real time and now you cant make the very sharp distinction between fiction or art and the ideas that come to life now in reality of that book, here it lacks that absurdity for real as we experience it...