Plague Literature

Looking for things to read while you are on lockdown at home? Here are some options you might want to consider. One of my daughters came across this article and sent me the link. Turns out there is quite a bit of literature about plagues, including some rather famous examples.

Everyone will think of the Decameron, of course. And in fact I ordered a copy of Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year shortly after we all got sent home, thinking now would be the time to read it. But something appears to have gone wrong with the order, because it has never arrived.

I'm embarrassed to say I had entirely forgotten about The Plague, by Camus, which would seem to be a pretty obvious choice. And I am not familiar with some of the more recent novels described in the article.

Lots of choices--first, though, back to Joseph Roth's Radetzkymarsch, which I am reading for East Meets West, all 400 pages of it, which I decided to do in German. We'll see if I can get through it in time...!

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Plague Time

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