Why Reading Pandemic Lit Gives Me Hope

I have been glued to social media in these days of self isolation.  As I read through my feeds, I notice a distinct divide: those who want to dive right into books (and movies/TV/games) that feature pandemic plot lines and those that want to get as far away from that sort of thing as is possible. I fall into the first category. Pandemic lit has always been my favorite kind of reading. It’s not because I have some sort of morbid fascination with death and disease. It’s because these stories, even at their darkest moments, remind me that, as Dr. Ian Malcolm once said, “life finds a way.” I need that hope, and it just doesn’t shine through in other types of writing in quite the same way.

My favorites are not the stories in which the illness is the the major event. I am more interested in what happens after the illness has passed and the population is decimated. In most of these scenarios, there is a scarcity of resources which drives a lot of violent behavior. There are communities that are built with the intent of sharing resources and providing security, and they see a fair amount of corruption. I think that’s human nature. But there are also people who do the right thing, that band together, that make sacrifices for each other. They show that the fear and distrust that comes from living through a pandemic can be overcome. Things may get much worse before they get better, but they will get better. Given the situation we now all find ourselves in, I think this is a very important message.

Take Mike Chen’s A Beginning at the End, released in mid-January of this year, just as the world was starting to hear whispers of a new virus in China. In many ways, it was not the opportune time for any new book, let alone one about the aftermath of a pandemic, to be released. But I’d argue that it’s just what we needed. There’s a little glimpse of what the initial outbreak was like, including a mass panic, and there’s a look at what happens when it looks as though the virus is coming back. But the story is really about what it takes to make a life in the world post-pandemic.