Sales of Station Eleven are suddenly up. In Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 blockbuster hit, the “Georgia flu” wipes out over 99 percent of humanity—it moves so quickly that within 24 hours of the virus reaching America, all air travel is shut down. Cell lines jam and phones stop working within two days. In under a week, television stations have gone to static as entire production crews die out. Spread via tiny aerosol particles, the Georgia flu is like our seasonal one and, yes, the coronavirus, on steroids—mercury-popping fevers, rattling coughs, respiratory distress, followed by death.
“I don’t know who in their right mind would want to read Station Eleven during a pandemic,” the perplexed author wrote on Twitter, to which her readers replied: We would. Inhaling a novel about a contagion that brings civilization to an end while news about covid-19 sends hand-sanitizer sales vaulting doesn’t sound logical. But there can be something reassuring about taking in a fictional disaster in the midst of a real one. You can flirt with the experience of collapse. You can long for the world you live in right now.
“The virus in Station Eleven would have burned out before it could kill off the entire population,” Mandel points out when I ask the question legions of fans are sending her way: Is she worried? The author is preternaturally composed—dressed in a checked toffee blazer and mahogany boots, she has an air of Betty Draper just returned from riding lessons. “I sound reassuring, right?,” she says. She also has a mischievous streak. Her face turns stoic. “It’s frightening, and we need to keep an eye on it.” Then she waggles her eyebrows: “Famous last words before the whole nation collapses!”
This story is from the March 16-29, 2020 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March 16-29, 2020 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Our Campus.Our Crisis.
Inside the encampments and crackdowns that shook American politics.
Middle Management
A 40-something woman undergoes asexual awakening in Miranda July’s thrilling new work.
Return to Guantánamo
Serial dusts off American terror's old machinery.
Chekhov, Misfiring
An Uncle Vanya that’s all talk.
The Art World's Pot Stirrer Returns
Maurizio Cattelan’s first solo gallery show in more than 20 years is a provocative commentary on America’s ills.
On Normani's Time
Five years into her solo career, the pop star's debut album is finally imminent. She's not sorry for the wait.
French Quarter Seafood in Fort Greene
Lots of oysters and fillets of fish inspired by Nobu at Strange Delight.
Where Does the Wine Bar End and the Restaurant Begin?
Pét-nats, pan roasts, and a lobster on the loose at Penny and Demo.
Trial-and-Error Arcadia
Kitty Hawks and Larry Lederman's Chappaqua gardens have been a three-decade-long journey.
The Trash and Treasures of Temu
How are these headphones 4.98? And everything else you've wondered about the chaotic new Everything Store.