6. On the third and final version of The Plague, 1945-1947

Or, how Camus' questioning the legitimacy of political violence in the post-war world finally circumscribes the symbol of the plague

16th century tavolette. ‘In Italian museums are sometimes found little painted screens that the priest used to hold in front of the face of condemned men to hide the scaffold from them.’ ~ Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus

1.

In 1948 – a year after The Plague was published – Camus gave a lecture at a Dominican monastery. This is remarkable enough in tha…