Station Eleven, By Emily St. John Mandel

Eve, Martin Paul (2018) Reading Very Well for Our Age: Hyperobject Metadata and Global Warming in Emily St John Mandel's Station Eleven.      This peer reviewed essay was originally published in the Open Library of Humanities. It is 42 pages long, much of the first 22 pages is spent arguing the definition and value of "metadata" and "hyper-objects" in objective reading. If you can make it through this painfully long argument, the paper does offer some real insights.      One of the main insights I really liked was the idea of symbolism from three points of view. The reader, the characters born after the plague and before the plague. All of whom, see the same item from a different point of view. It takes on different symbolism for each party. For example, as a reader we see a computer as a necessary tool many of us cannot live without, the characters born before the flu, it is a reminder of the past, and for those born after the flu it is...

A six-minute video of Emily St. John Mandel reading two small passages from Station Eleven. The main part of the reading is chapter six, "an incomplete list". Every video I have found of the author reading from " Station Eleven " she reads this passage. I find this a little odd, because it is one of the more bleak moments in the novel, and she always comments on how it is suppose to be a novel about hope.

Paul Peppis Director of the University of Oregon Humanity Center, interviews Emily St. John Mandel. The U of O uses the book " Station Eleven " in its first year required reading course. The video is 27:27 minutes long. It was very interesting to hear her say that she wrote this book mostly in an attempt to not be pigeon holed as a crime writer, and that she wanted to honor the actors who act for the love of the art and not for the fame and money.      Mandel also comments on how she consciously wanted her post-apocalyptic world to not be a world of horror and depression. She believes that the idea of the Hollywood version of a horror filled world is unrealistic, and didn't wish to go down that road. She also chose a pandemic because she did not want her book to be political, she feels that by having the world end by a nuclear war it instantly becomes political, and it also dates the book.      Mandel also discusses why the symphony ...

An 11:39 minute interview conducted at the AWP Conference and Book Fair. The most interesting part of this interview is Mandel discussing the value of art on society. She discusses how throughout history, in every culture, we see forms of art. Music and plays are seen even in places like prisons and concentration camps. It's a way we keep our humanity.      They also discuss the dangers of false prophets and why we as a society allows such people to take power. Mandel points out how humans often need a reason for why things happen, and how that need allows warlords, prophets and their like to rise to power.