Beyond critical reductionism : reading The Plague alongside The Rebel

Since the publication of The Plague in the aftermath of World War II, critics have tended to read and interpret this novel reductionistically, i.e. mainly as an allegory on the Nazi brown plague that invaded Europe in the early 1940s. This critical reductionism probably results from the inadequate attention that has so far been paid to the relationship between The Plague (novel 1947) and The Rebel (essay 1951), where the former illustrates the philosophical ideas defended in the latter. It is in an attempt at saving The Plague from the reductionistic readings of which it has been a victim that I have decided to undertake its deciphering alongside the themes developed in The Rebel. These themes are metaphysical rebellion, rebellion against historical nihilism, artistic rebellion, and the thought at the Meridian. This approach, I believe, has the advantage of restoring both works to their permanent topicality.