The State of Siege
Written
in 1948, The State of Siege—the original sense is closer to state of emergency—is
a play in three acts presenting the arrival of plague, personified by a young opportunist, in sleepy Cadiz and the subsequent creation of a totalitarian regime through the manipulation of fear. In a piece written
in 1948, in reply to criticisms from Gabriel
Marcel, Camus defended his decision to set
the play in Spain, and not in Eastern Europe, citing the ongoing oppression in
Spain, France's collusion in it, and the Catholic Church's abandonment of
Spanish Christians.
The
piece was first performed in October 1948, and was initially received poorly by
critics and public, who had eagerly awaited the work, but expected a
dramatisation of Camus's novel The
Plague. While the two share a common
background, the treatments are entirely different in tone. Although Camus
himself was pleased with the work, critics remained unimpressed.
The
State of Siege has remained almost constantly in
print in French, and since 1958 in an English translation by Stuart
Gilbert—in Caligula and Three Other
Plays—with a foreword by Camus.
References
"Why Spain" in Resistance, Rebellion, and Death.
Trans. Justin O'Brien. New York, Vintage; 1960.
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