A survey of literature through the ages that has dealt with plagues.
Tag Archives: Stand
Post of the Year: Plagues in Literature
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, Albert Camus, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, Emily St. John Mandel, Journal of the Plague Year, Katherine Anne Porter, Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood, Oedipus, Oryk and Crake, Pale Horse Pale Rider, plague, Sophocles, Station Eleven, Stephen King, Tracks, Virgil Comments closed
Sci-Fi Provides Pandemic Guidance
Our society is currently split on the value of scientific expertise. That split goes back at least as far as Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Andromeda Strain, Anthony Fauci, COVID-19, Donald Trump, Frankenstein, Last Man, Margaret Atwood, Mary Shelley, Michael Crichton, Oryx and Crake, pandemics, science fiction, Stephen King Comments closed
A Literary Survey of What Plagues Mean
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.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, Albert Camus, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, Emily St. John Mandel, Journal of the Plague Year, Katherine Anne Porter, Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood, Oedipus, Oryk and Crake, Pale Horse Pale Rider, Pestilence, plague, Sophocles, Station Eleven, Stephen King, Tracks, Virgil Comments closed
The Courage to Face the Darkness
In “IT” Stephen King shows how Americans close their eyes to horrific truths. Certain Americans have been closing their eyes to COVID19, showing King to know what he’s talking about.
King on How Pandemics Spread
The coronavirus pandemic brings to mind Stephen King’s “The Stand.” There, the government starts the virus. In our own world, Trump has disassembled the agencies designed to stop pandemics.
Stephen King & the War for America’s Soul
In “The Stand,” Stephen King sees the dark and the light fighting for control of America’s soul. His book had the Vietnam War in mind but it is also applicable to future policy in the Middle East.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 9-11, Iraq War, Nathaniel Hawthorne, neoconservativism, Stephen King, Vietnam War, war, Young Goodman Brown Comments closed
Ebola as a Stephen King Nightmare
The Ebola outbreak brings to mind Stephen King’s “The Stand.” Fortunately, it is not quite so infectious as the weaponized flu that King describes.
Stephen King: Tax Me, Save America
A version of Stephen King’s vision to raise taxes on millionaires (including himself) can be found in those of his novels where individuals collectively battle social fragmentation.
