It seems we cannot get enough of pandemics. Dean Koontz’s novel The Eyes of Darkness jumped to number three in Amazon’s charts, with a reported increase in sales of 3,000%. It’s about a virus, a biological weapon, developed by China, called Wuhan-400. Spooky, right? Especially since it was written in 1981.

Maybe it’s mostly conspiracy theorists buying that one. But what about Albert Camus’s The Plague? His 1947 novel has seen a sales boom, too, these last weeks. Here, though, the plague is a metaphor for the Nazi occupation of France in World War Two. The plague symbolizes the evilness that we could all carry within us.

Symbolism is important in novels as it adds another layer of depth to the readers’ experience by triggering their unconscious. It helps to engage the readers, make them think and feel, become involved in the story rather than just passively reading the words. [Read more…]