Developing a Voice through Literature. An Analysis of Pandemic Writing

Abstract

Literature during a pandemic provides meaning to the reader by using storytelling to shape the way that we understand and experience illness, disease, and health. Narratives are an attempt to bring closure to what is meaningless. During the void that is found during a pandemic, literature is able to serve a purpose and make sense of plagues. Pandemic literature exists not only to be analyzed, but also to tell stories. It is used as a reminder that sense still exists somewhere within society. Literature gives readers an escape outside of quarantine through invented stories. It is a reclamation against what illness represents, that the world is not our own. Literature and writing are necessary in the aftermath of a pandemic. It is through literature and writing, which has the ability to teach readers about the effects of the deadly manifestations on humanity, and how they shape what it means to be human.