Camus, Albert

Autograph manuscript, being a study of the plague after Thucydides and Lucretius, 4 1/2 pages (10 3/4 x 8 3/8 in.; 273 x 213 mm) with numerous autograph corrections and emendations, n.p., n.d. (mid- 1940s); lightly browned, horizontal fold, some creasing and chipping at edges.  Quarter cloth portfolio.

Autograph manuscript, being a study of plagues after Thucydides and Lucretius, 4 1/2 pages (10 3/4 x 8 3/8 in.; 273 x 213 mm) with numerous autograph corrections and emendations, n.p., n.d. (ca. 1944); lightly browned, horizontal fold, some creasing and chipping at edges. Quarter cloth portfolio.
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A highly important manuscript in which Camus discusses Thucydides and Lucretius, his Greek and Roman predecessors in describing the effects of the plague.  This version of the text is apparently unpublished.

It is not known whether Camus completed this meditation on the plague before or after he completed La Peste (The Plague), first published by Gaillimard in 1947. In the 2006 Pléiade edition of the complete works of Camus, another version of this text appears under the heading "Commentaire de Stephan sur Thucydide et Lucrèce.  Fragment du chapitre V de la IIIº partie." The manuscript of this version is held by the Bibliothèque National in Paris.  The present manuscript contains some corrections not noted in the BN manuscript or the published text of 2006.  

Camus contrasts the objectivity of the Greek historian Thucydides with the morbid imagination of the Latin poet Lucretius: "Thucy précise et Luc. enseigne.  Thucy écrit que les hommes mourraient comme des bêtes.  Luc ajoute que leur gorge toute noire distille une sueur de sang, que les crachats, rares, menus, couleur de safran et sales, sont arrachés avec peine du gosier par une tour rauque et qu'enfin un hoquet ininterrompu tue le patient et met le comble à son épuisement."

Camus goes on to voice his incomprehension at the suffering and horror brought on by the plague.  He expresses his derision at the supplications to the gods in Lucretius: "À nous d'ajouter la prière: 'dieu des brebis, je t'adore dans les hoquets et les crachats ... dieu des brebis, voici le sel de ma sueur de sang.'  Et le dieu des brebis approuve et gronde, rumine et se délecte.  Je leur envoie la mort en troupeau, accompagnée d'une odeur infecte pour que personne ne songe à toucher ces victimes réservées.  Et, comme dit Luc., les oiseaux et les bêtes sauvages s'écartent alors de cette proie." 

Camus ends up on the side of Thucydides, the objective historian, who notes that physicians can do nothing to stop the spread of the plague.  In every line of the text, Camus communicates his despair, his lack of faith in religion as a cure and a solace, in strong, grimacing language.  An indispensible text, shedding light on one of the great novels of the past century.