Imprisoned Space, Frozen Time, and “absurd walls”: the Metamorphosis of Oran in Camus’ The Plague

Abstract

In one of the most successful novels of Albert Camus, The Plague, the normal life of Oran is interrupted by the arrival of a disease that imprisons all the residents. By taking the spatial imprisonment and, consequently, the temporal suspension as the main elements of the structure of the novel, this article addresses Camus’ reflection on the absurd through three different aspects of the plot, intrinsically related to the development of the main topic. The spatio-temporal dynamics of The Plague are tackled by the examination of the fictional city before the arrival of the plague, by the role of the “absurd walls” of Oran during its closure, and, finally, through the moment of liberation which concludes the long struggle of Oran’s citizens and the novel itself. This article aims to analyse the spatio-temporal metamorphosis of the main setting of the novel, to reflect upon Camus’ philosophy on the absurd, as well as to relate to the challenges we have been facing with the actual pandemic, mainly translatable into a modified perception of time and space.