The first drafts of the plot of “Wonder” and the release of the finished book are separated by almost ten years: individual characters that we find in the story appear in Camus’ notebooks back in 1938. Undoubtedly, one of the events that most directly determined the course of work on the book was the war. Almost literal references are scattered throughout the book, and Camus himself, insisting on many possible readings of the story, singled out one thing. "It is obvious that the Plague tells about the struggle of the European resistance against Nazism. An enemy that is not explicitly named in the book has been recognized throughout Europe.” Letter to Roland Barthes on “The Plague” Fabula, some of the elements of which we meet in the collection of novels "Summer" (essay "Minotaur, or Stop in Oran") and "Caligula" (act IV, sc. IX), as he worked on the book, he quickly enriched himself with options and details; many household details were noticed by Camus during his stay in Oran itself, an Algerian city on the Mediterranean coast, in particular, the image of an old man who lured cats and spit on their heads. Camus described his work on the book: "it is a pre-designed plan that changes, on the one hand, circumstances and on the other - the very work of its implementation." A version of the title appears in 1941. : "A plague or an adventure (novel)", marks Camus in notebooks; at the same time he proceeds to study specialized literature on the topic. The following year, Camus significantly increases the number of clearly outlined characters (for example, Kottar and the old asthmatic appear) and reflects on the possible form of the future work: he turns to the novel classics, from Melville and Balzac to Stendhal and Flaubert. The first drafts of the whole manuscript differ significantly from the final version; for example, the order of chapters and individual descriptions is changed, there are no characters of Ramber and Gran.