Pandemics and Modernism
Abstract
History is full of accounts of devastations caused by pandemics. The destruction caused by influenza in 1918-1919 has no parallel in history. At the same time, humankind faced another devastation in the form of World War I. The physical, mental, and psychological impact of the influenza pandemic on human life was no less intense than the one caused by the war. Nevertheless, the literature produced in the first half of the twentieth century was generally analyzed from the perspective of war. For the first time, Elizabeth Outka studied modern literature from the perspective of pandemics in her latest book titled Viral Modernism. A handful of writers have attempted to describe the havoc caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on human life and how to deal with the post-pandemic situation. This paper presents a review of the literature produced on pandemics in history with particular reference to Elizabeth Outka’s work and the literature produced on influenza (1918-1919) while taking note of the reasons of the disappearance of pandemics in selected texts.
Shaista Shareef. (2022) وبائیں اور جدیدیت, Bunyad, Vol13, Bunyad.
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