
On Pandemic and Literature - drjohnson
https://themillions.com/2020/03/on-pandemic-and-literature.html
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ImaCake
It wasn't until this latest outbreak that I realised just how pervasive the
ideas of pandemic are in the creative works I consume. One of my favourite
books is "The Reality Dysfunction" which deals with a pandemic of possession.
A favourite childhood video game is "Halo: Combat Evoloved" which centres on
alien space zombies. Speaking of zombies, I really like "World War Z" (the
book, not the film). And, in my efforts to have better job prospects, I am
studying biostatistics which includes plenty of content on epi/pandemics.

It's bit like how nature and animals pervades all of our advertising and
branding. You don't notice just how much our zeitgeist is filled with these
things until someone or something points it out to you.

~~~
weinzierl
> It wasn't until this latest outbreak that I realised just how pervasive the
> ideas of pandemic are in the creative works I consume.

This very thought came to my mind too. The examples that I thought of first
were Thomas Mann's _Death in Venice_ where Aschenbach hesitates until it is
too late to flee.

 _' Among these things the Englishman said the most important one. "[...] The
ban can hardly be delayed for more than a few days." "Thank you," said
Aschenbach and left the office.'_ [1]

Back then fleeing was at least considered an option but today? Where would you
go?

Very striking is also Albert Camus' classification of people in the face of
crisis in _The Plague_ :

\- the ignorant

\- the revolting

\- the ones in solidarity

\- the loving ones

Lastly not to forget, the episode about the telephone sanitizers in Douglas
Adams' book;-)

[1] My own translation (attempt)

