Brightness in the Air : Reflections on Literature during the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

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This essay examines a range of historical works of literature in the context of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning with a consideration of “normalcy bias” (a psychological disposition to react slowly to danger) as presented in Wellsʼs novel The War of the Worlds, the essay also examines depictions of lockdown and quarantine in Camusʼs novel The Plague, Poeʼs short story “Th¬e Masque of the Red Death” with its depiction of privilege and divine justice, and Boccaccioʼs collection The Decameron with its use of epidemic and isolation as a framing device. ¬The essay also examines Pepysʼs description of the London plague of 1665, alongside historical theories of medicine and health. Th¬e essay then considers the experience of disease as described in Porterʼs short novel “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” and Woolfʼs essay “On Being Ill.” ¬The essay ends with a reading of Foster's short story “¬The Machine Stops,” focusing on its depiction of a future voluntarily locked-in society, in which human interaction is conducted solely through telecommunication technology.

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