by Daniel Defoe
Written 1722
The years 1665-1666 were rough for London. 1665 brought plague, and 1666 brought a city-wide fire. This book contains a fictionalized account of that plague year of 1665. Defoe, writing 50+ years hence, constructed a narrative based upon research in journals from that era. In providing an account of these interesting times, this book provides several interesting interludes. Like the story of a naked Quaker who walked the streets. Or how the poor and city officers bravely attacked the disease to make the city function.
It is always interesting to study British history through the lens of class. Ironically, the clergy and the well-to-do did not confront the illness with as much braveness as the lower classes. Although the poor suffered most from the disease (think of the close living quarters in pre-Industrial-Revolution London), they were less paralyzed by fear of the “distemper.” Remember that people at that time did not know that the plague was caused by rats. They just knew that it was a “contagion” that was transmitted in an area. For all they knew, it was an act of God’s displeasure upon London, not a relatively random event in the history of bacteria!
Fear, courage, and madness are all on display in this dystopian tale. One cannot help but wonder how modern London would respond to a similar crisis. We have record of an Ebola outbreak in recent years in Africa to compare to. That public health crisis was not handled too well by the international community. Fortunately, London now has a public health system that can respond to emergent outbreaks with speed and skill. Perhaps that prevention is the lesson of the plague year for us. We do not suffer these kind of events commonly because we attend to their prevention in the early stages of problems. What of our problems will those 300 years from now read and wonder about in the pages of our literature? One can only dream…