Many have interpreted Albert Camus’ The Plague as an allegory for the opposition to the Nazi occupation of France during World War II — Camus himself was an active member of the French Resistance, writing for and editing the Resistance newspaper Combat. However, now there is opportunity for a completely different interpretation. Over 70 years after its publication, the novel presents other eerie, almost prophetic, similarities to life in the shadow of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). This article will highlight the lessons we can learn from The Plague by drawing parallels between the fictional events of Camus’ novel and the United States’ early response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Before The Rite of Spring’s premiere incited a riot in a Paris opera house, Russian composer Igor Stravinsky planned to become a lawyer. He received a degree in jurisprudence from St. Petersburg University in 1905 but decided to focus on music shortly after. His long and prolific career took him from Russia to Europe to the United States, where he lived until his death in 1971. Although he had abandoned his legal aspirations decades before, the law was never far from view in his new homeland. This article will examine the history of Stravinsky’s fraught relationship with United States law and its wider implications for classical music.