Presented by Dr. Randy Gordon, with Institute Fellows
Published in 1947, Albert Camus’ classic novel is arguably the most powerful literary treatment of “the plague” of all time. Early on, the narrator says, “Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky. There have been as many plagues as wars in history, yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise…. How should they have given a thought to anything like plague, which rules out any future, cancels journeys, silences the exchange of views? They fancied themselves free, and no one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences.” Camus’ presentation of the plague and the ways his characters confront it will be uncannily familiar to us in the Covid era—absurd, perhaps, but existentially very real. Read the novel with us and join Dr. Gordon as he takes us inside Camus’ powerful imagination.
Tuesday, October 20: 6:30-8:00pm
Suggested tuition is $15; please donate as much as you can or as little as you can spare.
