The “ache of separation”

Albert Camus’ novel “The Plague” takes place in Oran, which today is a large port on Algeria’s Mediterranean coast. It was still a French colony in Camus’ story.

The story is narrated by Dr. Bernard Rieux, a local doctor who becomes increasingly involved in treating patients afflicted with smallpox as it spreads through the community. Eventually the residents of Oran must be quarantined which is heartfeltly described by Dr. Rieux like this:

“…once the town gates were shut, every one of us realized that all, were, so to speak, in the same boat, and each would have to adapt himself to the new conditions of life. Thus, for example, a feeling normally as individual as the ache of separation from those one loves suddenly became a feeling in which all shared alike and — together with fear — the greatest affliction of the long period of exile that lay ahead.” — “The Plague” Albert Camus

Dr. Rieux’s description is one today’s statistic-obsessed media have difficulty using in there story telling. Instead we’re presented with tabular presentations, like this, that CNN and others update every time they return from a commercial break.