Albert Camus' exploration of human reactions to the absurd nature of the universe, and the arbitrary inevitability of death, The Plague, is translated by Robin Buss with an introduction by Tony Judt in Penguin Classics. The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame or revenge, and a few, like the unheroic hero Dr Rieux, resist the terror. An immediate triumph when it was published in 1947, The Plague (La Peste) is in part an allegory of France's suffering under the Nazi occupation, a profound illustration of Camus' existentialist philosophy, and a story of bravery and determination against the precariousness of human existence.