Resilience Amid Ruins: A Logotherapeutic Analysis of Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven

Abstract

The corpus of literature concerning pandemics and disease outbreaks, within the genre of post-apocalyptic pandemic fiction, has seen a notable surge, particularly in the wake of COVID-19 crises. These works, which often delve into the existential search for meaning amidst societal collapse, suffering and chaos, resonate profoundly with the contemporary world. There is a scholarly imperative to investigate the portrayal of optimism and resilience in the face of adversity, as depicted in pandemic literature. This study aims to elucidate optimistic coping mechanisms depicted in Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven (2014) a seminal work in its genre with striking similarities to the era of COVID-19. This analysis will utilise Viktor Frankl’s optimistic existential philosophy, Logotherapy, as a framework to examine how the novel’s characters navigate and find meaning in their drastically altered, post-pandemic reality. The study aims to elucidate how Logotherapy’s principles align with the character’s experiences and their search for meaning in a decimated world.