Category Archives: Mandel (Emily St. John)

On Rereading During a Pandemic

By Robin Bates | Published: May 19, 2020

In three articles on rereading great literature during difficult times, two discuss how it reassures them and the third that literature isn’t meant to reassure.

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A Literary Survey of What Plagues Mean

By Robin Bates | Published: April 19, 2020

A survey of how literary authors have grappled for meaning in times of pestilence bolsters our own search. I look at Sophocles, Virgil, Defoe, Porter, Camus, King, Mandel, Atwood, and Erdrich.

Also posted in Atwood (Margaret), Camus (Albert), Defoe (Daniel), Erdrich (Louise), King (Stephen), Porter (Katherine Anne), Sophocles, Virgil | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When Millenarians Meet a Pandemic

By Robin Bates | Published: April 3, 2020

Mandel’s “Station Eleven” predicts the kind of religious language we can expect to hear from some as the pandemic deepens. It’s not pleasant.

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The Bard Answers Pestilence’s Challenge

By Robin Bates | Published: April 3, 2020

In Emily St. John Mandel’s dystopia “Station Eleven,” people turn to Shakespeare in a world that has been devastated by pandemic.

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