Ryazantsev S.V., Smirnov A.V. «The Plague» by A. Camus and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Humanity in the Face of an Existential Threat. Nauchnoe obozrenie. Seriya 2. Gumanitarnye nauki [Scientific Re- view. Series 2. Human Sciences]. 2021. No. 3. Р. 7-21. DOI: 10.26653 ...

Abstract

The novel of the Nobel Prize winner in Literature Albert Camus The Plague became one of the most widely read books in Europe during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. A number of researchers attribute Camus to existentialist writers. Existentialism emerged after two bloody wars to provide answers to questions of concern to humanity. Since Albert Camus wrote the novel during the Second World War, he understands the plague not only as a disease, but also as German soldiers, whom the inhabitants of France called the brown plague because the invaders wore brown shirts. As the inhabitants of the city of Oran resisted the plague on the pages of the work, so the inhabitants of France fought against Nazism and fascism. A. Camus in the novel The Plague describes quarantine measures that take place in the city of Oran in the 40s of the XX century. The consequences of the epidemic and the behavior of the inhabitants described in the novel have much in common with modern coronavirus realities: the recession of the economy, the increase in the number of unemployed, protests against quarantine measures, the introduction of curfews, the creation of new medicines, etc. In Russia, as in the pages of the novel, there is a decline in the economy. So, during the pandemic in Russia, the number of registered unemployed increased from 1.3 million to 4.8 million people, and the appeal to employment centers for support measures - from 20 to 80%. Camus in his novel writes about the creation of an anti-plague serum. In Russia, the first country in the world, a vaccine against coronavirus infection Sputnik V was created. The director of the hotel, described in the work, said that due to the epidemic and quarantine, the tourist business disappeared. According to the World Tourism Organization, tourism at the end of 2020 It decreased by 77% compared to 2019, which is comparable to the tourist activity that was recorded in the late 80s. Stray animals were shot in Oran, believing that they could be carriers of infection. In China, during the Covid-19 pandemic, pets were thrown out of windows because people believed that they could be the source of Covid-19, and in Denmark, more than 11 million minks were exterminated for the same reasons. The authors of this article attempted to analyze the development of the epidemiological process in the novel and plot the death rate from the plague according to the work.