Impressive Literary Words on Virus
Author Richard Powers on How the Virus Reminds Us that Humans Aren’t In Control
The Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist speaks with GQ’s Brett Martin about his solitary life at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains, where he’s writing (about a virus!) and contemplating the present moment as both a reckoning and an opportunity.
“The coronavirus is just a very rapid refutation of this idea that we live in a completely human-moderated, human-mastered, human-controlled world, and that all the stories will basically be about ourselves. We haven’t even begun to see the ways in which that notion is going to fall apart in the years ahead. We’ve gotten a pretty good taste of it but, you know, when this virus goes, there’s going to be another one. In order for literature to understand who we are, how we got here, and where we’re going, how to survive sheltering in place will be the smaller part of the question. The larger part is how to incorporate the reality of this moment into the story we’re telling about ourselves and our place here. “
-Richard Powers
☆My favorite American novelist Richard Powers is now writing a new book on humans and viruses.
☆I'm looking forward to his new work in this pandemic era.
