Talk:The State of Siege

What happened?

The history of this page is blanked, and the page seems to have been created 1st November. And yet I had it on my watch list. Why? How? What? Whither? Mlewan 04:11, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

The original version was created by a now banned user intent on pushing his own cranky philosophy. Rather than trying to work out how much of the article was compromised by his own original research, we thought it was better to delete the page and recreate it from scratch. --Folantin 07:57, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Ok, I thought so. It was just strange not to find any history at all. No problem. Mlewan 10:08, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Did you know nomination

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• Comment or view
• Article history

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• ... that the writer of The State of Siege disagreed with its director as to whether the antagonist should be dressed as a non-commissioned officer or a scarab-clad totem?

• Source: Si Camus et Barrault se rejoignent au sujet de la dimension métaphysique de la peste, le choix par Camus de la représentation du personnage de La Peste en sous-officier témoigne d'une volonté d'introduire une charge contre le totalitarisme. Alors que Camus propose un personnage de fonctionnaire, représentant de l'État totalitaire, Barrault, lui, souhaitait mettre en scène un personnage symbolique davantage selon les vœux d'Artaud. La Peste devait ainsi initialement faire son entrée habillée d'un «costume totémique recouvert de scarabées verts et jaunes» et distribuait des scorpions à ses victimes. ('While Camus and Barrault shared a common view regarding the metaphysical dimension of the plague, Camus's decision to portray the character of "The Plague" as a non-commissioned officer reflects an intent to launch an attack against totalitarianism. Whereas Camus envisioned a civil servant—a representative of the totalitarian state—Barrault sought to stage a symbolic figure more in line with Artaud's vision; originally, "The Plague" was to make its entrance clad in a "totemic costume covered in green and yellow scarabs" and distribute scorpions to its victims.')

• • ALT1: ... that a scene transition in The State of Siege opens with an argument between two lovers staged as a Spanish-style bullfight? Source: La tour centrale et les deux parties latérales composent un hémicycle qui rappelle les arènes espagnoles, comme le souhaite Camus: «Imaginez qu'au début du deuxième acte, la ville de Cadix se transforme en une sorte d'arène au centre de laquelle il y a deux amoureux. La corrida commence!» ('The central tower and the two side sections form a semicircle reminiscent of Spanish bullrings, in keeping with Camus's vision: "Imagine that at the start of the second act, the city of Cádiz transforms into a sort of arena with two lovers at its center. The bullfight begins!"')
  • ALT2: ... that Albert Camus and Jean-Louis Barrault pretended to talk to an imaginary lover in order to settle on the title for The State of Siege? Source: Bloom, Ryan. "Notes on The State of Siege  " (offline source): "In his memoirs, Barrault recalled that in order to finally settle on [a title], he and Camus played a game whereby one would say, 'Get dressed, darling, we're going to see...' and then the other would fill in a title, hoping to hear it click."
  • ALT3: ... that Albert Camus set The State of Siege in Spain because "the first weapons of totalitarian war were bathed in Spanish blood" under the Francoist regime? Source: "Camus stages State of Siege in Spain as an implicit retort to Franco's fascism, since 'the first weapons of totalitarian war were bathed in Spanish blood'"
  • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Alfred William Frisby
  • Comment: Template:Did you know nominations/Punching the Clown (album)

5x expanded by ThaesOfereode (talk). Number of QPQs required: 2. DYK is currently in unreviewed backlog mode and nominator has 33 past nominations.

ThaesOfereode (talk) 12:52, 11 September 2026 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: Article is new enough, long enough. Hook facts are interesting (though ALT1 may be a DYKFiction issue). I personally prefer ALT2. No copyvios or close paraphrasing found. Looks good to go.  — Chris Woodrich (talk) 19:45, 21 September 2026 (UTC)

@Crisco 1492: Thanks for the review. Looking at this with fresh eyes, I think ALT2 might be the strongest of the four as well. Best, ThaesOfereode (talk) 22:49, 21 September 2026 (UTC)