2:19 Bocaccio, Giovanni. 1353. decameron 2:53 Chaucer, Geoffrey. 14th cent. the pardoner's tale 3:27 Poe, Edgar Allen. masque of the red death 4:28 london, jack. 1912. the scarlet plague 5:00 king, stephen. the stand 5:17 cook, robin. outbreak 5:34 kaufman, amie; kristof, Jay. illuminae 6:11 camus, albert. 1947. the plague 6:28 matheson, richard. 1954. i am legend 6:55 mandel, emily st john. 2014. station eleven 7:56 brooks, max. world war z 8:36 .walking dead 9:06 .pride and prejudice and zombies 9:09 marion, isaac. warm bodies 9:25 corey, james s. a. expanse series 9:41 card, orson scott. Ender series 10:35 scalzi, john. lock in series
This stresses me out that there's wild Lindsay Ellis content roaming around out there that I'm not seeing because it's on random channels that the algorithm deems out of my circle.
Try keyword searching her name and most recent now and then and you should catch whatever you've missed. It only feels a little bit like being a super creepy stalker hunting people by name on youtube. :)
she been associated with this channel for a "short" while now. .. i think it's connected to PBS and that's why she here. it's like that Get Lit series. i found this place due to the creeptids and TOTALLY subbed when I saw Lindsay :D
First book: Awesome Ender's Sadow: Still awesome Second Book: A little strange but still cool Shadow of the Hegemon: Still cool Any after those: ......wut?
In the future, zombie movies will be judged unrealistic if there isn't a large number of people who walk straight toward the shambling horde while insisting that the slackers get back to work so they can buy a latte.
Lindsey Ellis and Dr. Emily Zarka in the same video is the best thing that's ever happened on this channel, also really fascinating video! This subject has been on my mind and I'm glad someone else has done the research.
wrote it up for myself figured i'd share: mentioned books -- illness as metaphor - susan sontag (scholarly book) the decameron - giovanni boccaccio the pardoner’s tale - the canterbury tales - geoffrey chaucer the masque of the red death - edgar allan poe the scarlet plague - jack london the stand - stephen king outbreak - robin cook the hot zone - richard preston (nonfiction) illuminae - amie kaufman and jay kristoff the plague - albert camus i am legend - richard matheson station eleven - emily st. john mandel world war z - max brooks the zombie survival guide - max brooks the walking dead pride and prejudice and zombies warm bodies - isaac marion the expanse series - james s.a. corey ender series - orson scott card lock in (series) - john scalzi
Thank you for using stills of Vincent Price in "The Last Man on Earth" to illustrate the bit on "I Am Legend". Of the three movie adaptations so far, that one adheres closest to the actual book. Plus, it's got Vincent Price!
7:57 I was today old when I learned that Max Brooks is Mel Brooks' son. Did anyone else see the glorious video of him social distancing with his dad on Twitter?
Yep. Contacts galore by growing up surrounded by the best may be how the audiobook to World War Z got such and AMAAAAZING voice acting, I supose. Max Brooks must know everyone and their children. Love the book and loved to try to recognize all the voices in the audiobook cast.
One of my favorite 'plague' books is 'No Blade of Grass' by John Christopher. It explores a plague, not visited upon people, but on our food supply - specifically wheat, rice and other grains.
It's a long while since I read that. I used to be a big fan of John Christopher. I found out recently that they made a film of it, but I've never seen it. The novel struck me as a cross between John Wyndham and early JG Ballard.
"...aaaand zombies, let's tag in Dr. Z!" That was pretty great. I really love the different voice each of the writer/presenters brings to the channel, but it'd also be awesome to see that happen occasionally in the future where the topic crosses into one another's areas of expertise.
PBS Digital's been pretty good on that in the past. Space Time, Eons, It's Ok To Be Smart, SciShow, they all crossover when the subject matter encourages it. I'm sure Storied will keep doing that, too. (Dr. Z's been on Eons' episode on chimeras, for example).
My obsession for watching Transformers videos on TH-cam led me watch Lindsay's video about Starscream. This then led me to watch It's Lit. The crossover in this episode led me wach Dr Z's Monstrum series. Then there was a crossover Monstrum vidoe with PBS Eons. So where do I go after watching Eons?
“Still, it's the heaviest of all of these volumes, and thus, in hardback at least, could undoubtedly be used to stun a burglar; which has always been my definition of real art.” Neil Gaiman, foreword to The Kindly Ones
@@SirThinks2Much I take it you know about what Gaiman did recently? He travelled from New Zealand to northern Scotland under lockdown. A lot of the local Highland politicians are not happy.
First off, I've met Max Brooks. Really sweet and hilarious guy. Second, great exploration. May have given me an idea for a story of my own. I think I'll go share this now.
@@nataliazart Personally I don't think the video needs to cover all pandemic lit, but Blindness has an utterly different plot from Camus' work. Both in the plot and how the world/characters function in light of it.
"Boy those books got squirrelly." I like your phrasing. I'm going to start using that to describe all the other series I've read that start out interesting and then.. get... squirrelly.
@@anonb4632 It's always meant "nuts" or "crazy" to me, which is the lead definition on Urban Dictionary. The (generally) more reliable dictionaries seem to think it's primarily eccentric, unpredictable, or erratic but...no, Urban's got them beat for once.
I've been thinking a lot about Station Eleven while just sat about doing nothing, it for me really captures the human stories that just end when such a large scale event happens.
Dr Z has a good voice for talking about things that should cause nightmares in a way that makes me want to listen as I drift off to sleep. Very soothing.
@@dns5280 actually it was months ago and it's a push by PBS to keep relevant content ongoing instead of sporadic on separate channels. Didn't make sense at first but now it does
"Infinite Jest" is next to "The Chronicles of Narnia" on Lindsay's left (viewers' right). I don't know how I feel about those two books being in such close proximity.
I know this is a very small nitpicky thing, but as a history student I can't let this pass. When Lindsay talked about the black death at 2:09, a map of 9th century Europe is shown. This is just not correct: 9th century Europe was a very different place from 14th century Europe and it is important to show the right map to give the correct context of the period in which that particularly devasting plague swept through Europe
I would argue the map has nothing to do with what she was talking about at that point. It seemed like it was more of just an aesthetic. She only says that The Black Plague was an inspiration to many literature about pandemics, that's it.
My favourite non-plague plague novel is On The Beach where the radiation is coming and there is no way to stop it and everyone has to accept an inevitable death in their own way. Not cheerful but weirdly uplifting as everyone tries to find the best way for themselves to survive as people in a society until they chose their own end
Even though not discussed, I do appreciate Feed being prominently displayed on the shelf. Though a more straightforward exploration of the pandemic genre, it captured a great deal of day-to-day behavior and politics in a post-outbreak world rather well.
I was honestly surprised that it didn't get a mention, considering how thoroughly Seanan McGuire researched the epidemiology for it (and several other pandemic-related works she's written as Mira Grant). The Rising series is such a well-thought-out post-apocalyptic zombie-virus world, even if some of the expectations that made sense when it was written have become a little bit dated as social media has shifted models. But I was still super-excited to see it on the shelf!
This was wonderful! When I read a Guardian article about pandemic literature, I shared and mentioned how World War Z needed to be on the list. I am so glad you did this. I was also gratified to see the Walking Dead comics (not the TV show, though it isn't bad) make the list, as well. Graphic Novels have developed a wonderful literary sensibility, and the fact that they explore these issues, while appealing to younger audiences, means that more young people can grow up thinking about important societal issues, especially as those issues get cut out of the classroom, increasingly, in favor of standardized tests' bite-sized facts. The one reality we see with this pandemic is that too many people lack the ability to process information critically, instead accepting or rejecting it based upon their pre-existing political biases. I am not sure which work of fiction covers that, besides Brooks to a degree, but maybe there is room for yet another look at pandemics as a lens to understand yet another problematic social dynamic. Also, with regards to Brooks and "art imitating life." I am pretty sure he was well aware, besides the totalitarian aspect, that Chinese markets and farming practices are largely responsible for viruses transmitting to humans, as our annual flu season shows, so China was a no-brainer choice as a viral origin point.
I was surprised to not see a mention of Connie Willis's "The Doomsday Book". The book follows a 23rd-century historian who goes back in time to research medieval Britain in the time before the Black Plague, but ends up being trapped in a village with no way to return back home when the Black Plague surprisingly arrives earlier than anticipated. In the meanwhile, a new influenza epidemic has stuck the Oxford of the "present day" 23rd-century, and the historical society our protaganist is from has to deal with the fallout of infections, quarantines, deaths, and the need to retain supplies and limited operations. I've been thinking a lot about that book during the current pandemic, and about how incredibly similar the effects of the outbreaks (moreso the 23rd century one than the Black Death one) in "The Doomsday Book" reflect the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic today. It really does a great job of showing the importance of strong management systems and the dangers of not knowing (or not being able to convince others) how diseases like this spread.
I was also surprised it didn't get a mention. I can't recall how I stumbled across it so many years ago now but I did and I was deeply affected by it. Especially as I share a name with the protagonist (sort of).
Connie Willis' Doomsday Book has been on my mind a *lot* lately. It was a fave of mine even before this pandemic, and now it feels like I'm living through it.
I had a college class that was Feminism and Sci-fi and Station Eleven was one of our class reads. We started reading it....immediately after the lockdowns in March 2020. I have never related more to a novel
surprised that Blindness by José Saramago wasn't mentioned! also super thematically relevant to this conversation about pandemic and societal breakdown
Man, I'm disappointed you never mentioned Jose Saramago's novel Blindness, where a plague of causing white blindness begins and in an effort to stop it from spreading, they just put all the sick people they can find in a hospital and leave them to fend for themselves. The protagonist is the wife of a doctor, and she fakes being blind so she can stay with her husband, and she can see the entire thing go down with people killing each other, guards killing infected people, people dying of infection and starvation... then they escape and it turns out that while they thought everyone abandoned them, it was just that the entire WORLD got infected, and then suddenly, everyone can just... see again. Very hard read, gross and graphic. 10/10, one of the best pieces of pandemic literature I've ever read.
Here in November 2020 to say the best thing in my day was pausing to read your book titles and making the sentence "Shift the Wool Dust off Axiom's End".
"we have always survived, learned, and adapted" well. except for, yknow, the ones who die or are irreparably changed by it. i get the sentiment, but the point of a pandemic is that there are many who very much do not do that thing that is meant to give us hope.
I've been working on a novel for years that begins at the end of pandemic. I was just getting really into it and writing a ton when an actual pandemic broke out. FML
Can anyone tell me the name of the classical piece that starts playing at 02:43? I can't for the life of me remember what it's called and dammit now I want to listen to it!!!
I see Wool, Shift, and Dust on the shelf! I have tried to get so many people to read those to no avail. I have been curious as to the pandemics effect on the arts, so it's great to find your channel.
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker is a good book about an infection, although it’s not a pandemic because it’s restrained to one small town it’s a very good read! It doesn’t follow any one character but shows how scary it can be from the view a different people across various ages and stages of life.
I work in a bookstore that specializes in science fiction and fantasy books and looking at Lindsey's shelf and trying to understand the organisation is stressing me out. Scalzi between Buter and Corey and Kim Stanley Robinson in two different places... I need a tea and a lie down.
How did TH-cam just now recommend this channel to me, I watched all of Linsay Ellis's videos on her main channel all the time, and to think all of this extra content of hers is in another deep dive video essay based channel!
Lindsay has "Feed" on her shelf, which is a really good hard science zombie story (its treated as an infectious disease requiring quarantine measures, etc) which hs been on my mind a lot recently
My great-grandparents lived through the 1918 -1919 pandemic. I never met them but I sometimes wonder how they dealt with it. My great-grandfather served with the 372nd Infantry Regiment, 93rd Infantry Division US Army.
My grandfather lost two brothers to the Spanish flu. My great-grandmother was so devastated by her loss, she didn't record his birth in the family Bible. She assumed he would die too.
I've missed you. :) to end this year in a lighter note, I have my lit students analyze film -- using your Guardians vid essay as a mentor piece. I don't expect them to edit a video (at best, a googleslide presentation after their analytical comp). thank you for being awesome. you're my "make literature lit" role model #getlit
I'm...distracted trying to figure out what Lindsay's possible decision-making process was that lead to her books being organized in that particular order...
Over a month old and the algorithm finally shows me this. Aside from that, in a twelve minute video covering pandemic and zombie lit, I was a little disappointed that the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant wasn't mentioned... especially since Feed is sitting on the shelf just over Lindsay's shoulder the whole time.
It took me a journey to finally find and buy this book but it was worth it. I found myself engrossed in the alternate history she created, especially as the end drew near for all but a handful. It also represents a family unit of intimate friendship between two men that was beautifully written. And the ending was soul-crushing. I can not believe this was only published once and shelved for being too dystopian; it is now being recognized as a masterpiece.
Another piece of pandemic literature not mentioned here is one of the world's first post-apocalyptic science fiction novels (or possibly the very first), "The Last Man" by Mary Shelley, the mother of science fiction. I haven't finished reading it, but it definitely shows that themes of plague and post-apocalyptic fiction have always gone hand in hand.
This video is awesome! i would love more similar lists of books around a topic researched like this. I will go back and watch lots of the old epidoes on pbs' channle but please, please, please make more.
I'm currently reading abbadon's gate from the expanse series , i started reading it because of the show ,witch i started watching because i kept hearing Kyle Hill (who is not a super villain ) go on and on about it , and now i see the series in your bookshelf and i'm so jelly ( i'm reading the e books )i can't wait for bookshops to be a thing again
By the way, the Feed series(I see it on the shelf) is really intriguing on how life went on after zombies. Limited numbers in stores, disinfecting, and testing before entrances. When this all started, the book made me think could this be our future? This series is my favorite because it explains why it happened and how they recovered.
2:19 Bocaccio, Giovanni. 1353. decameron
2:53 Chaucer, Geoffrey. 14th cent. the pardoner's tale
3:27 Poe, Edgar Allen. masque of the red death
4:28 london, jack. 1912. the scarlet plague
5:00 king, stephen. the stand
5:17 cook, robin. outbreak
5:34 kaufman, amie; kristof, Jay. illuminae
6:11 camus, albert. 1947. the plague
6:28 matheson, richard. 1954. i am legend
6:55 mandel, emily st john. 2014. station eleven
7:56 brooks, max. world war z
8:36 .walking dead
9:06 .pride and prejudice and zombies
9:09 marion, isaac. warm bodies
9:25 corey, james s. a. expanse series
9:41 card, orson scott. Ender series
10:35 scalzi, john. lock in series
Good one. And the music? 🙏🤣
👍👍
This stresses me out that there's wild Lindsay Ellis content roaming around out there that I'm not seeing because it's on random channels that the algorithm deems out of my circle.
Try keyword searching her name and most recent now and then and you should catch whatever you've missed. It only feels a little bit like being a super creepy stalker hunting people by name on youtube. :)
Thanks for articulating my vague worried feeling.
she been associated with this channel for a "short" while now. .. i think it's connected to PBS and that's why she here. it's like that Get Lit series. i found this place due to the creeptids and TOTALLY subbed when I saw Lindsay :D
I didn't notice I was in a different channel! And now I have the same concern as you...
Yeah! I had the same reaction, I didn't know I could or should just search for Lindsay Ellis in places other than her channel.
Because Lindsay was not in front of a green screen here, I half expected her to pull out a drink. lol.
sasclom2 and some funyuns.
need a lot of cgi fixig that makeup
@@campkira why are you here?
And to be LOSING TO A BIRD!!!
@@campkira Why is campkira?
“Boy, those books got squirrelly.” Understatement of the century.
I had to look up what "squirrelly" meant, but it seems it just means "unpredictable"? From the context I thought it'd mean something outright bad.
@@DeyaViews Sometimes also "crazy" or (as you might expect with squirrels involved) "nuts" as well.
@@DeyaViews "Squirrelly" is unpredictable in a chaotic and crazy way, as opposed to unpredictable in a clever planned-out way.
Well, she does like those books.
First book: Awesome
Ender's Sadow: Still awesome
Second Book: A little strange but still cool
Shadow of the Hegemon: Still cool
Any after those: ......wut?
In the future, zombie movies will be judged unrealistic if there isn't a large number of people who walk straight toward the shambling horde while insisting that the slackers get back to work so they can buy a latte.
And refusing quarantine coz "infection will weed out the week and create herd immunity" 🙄
"I refuse to live in fear!"
@@takethefreesamples Go back and reread my first comment.
I love how Lindsay has her book, Axiom's End, on the shelf beside her.
Subliminal self promotion.
I only saw “the fault in our stars” lol
Heh, came to the comments to see if anyone else noticed. Was not disappointed :)
Gotta self promote, yo
@@JackieDaytonia she must be promoting it well since so many people noticed it. I pre-ordered it and I can't wait to read it
Hey that book on the shelf "Axioms End" that sounds interesting, wonder who that could be by...
FollowBetulas can’t wait to read it 🙂
I'm actually looking and don't see Axioms End on her shelf, it looks like they're alphabetical but I don't see it in the E's 😂
@@JesseColton Bottom shelf on the right (as we look at it) next to 'Dust' and below 'Caliban's War.'
@@Kartissa Good eye
Lindsey Ellis and Dr. Emily Zarka in the same video is the best thing that's ever happened on this channel, also really fascinating video! This subject has been on my mind and I'm glad someone else has done the research.
wrote it up for myself figured i'd share: mentioned books --
illness as metaphor - susan sontag (scholarly book)
the decameron - giovanni boccaccio
the pardoner’s tale - the canterbury tales - geoffrey chaucer
the masque of the red death - edgar allan poe
the scarlet plague - jack london
the stand - stephen king
outbreak - robin cook
the hot zone - richard preston (nonfiction)
illuminae - amie kaufman and jay kristoff
the plague - albert camus
i am legend - richard matheson
station eleven - emily st. john mandel
world war z - max brooks
the zombie survival guide - max brooks
the walking dead
pride and prejudice and zombies
warm bodies - isaac marion
the expanse series - james s.a. corey
ender series - orson scott card
lock in (series) - john scalzi
Thank you! 😊
thanks
Bless you!
Thank you for using stills of Vincent Price in "The Last Man on Earth" to illustrate the bit on "I Am Legend". Of the three movie adaptations so far, that one adheres closest to the actual book. Plus, it's got Vincent Price!
Vinnie!!!! There is only One cure Mr. Price!!!💋💗💗💗💗💗
7:57 I was today old when I learned that Max Brooks is Mel Brooks' son. Did anyone else see the glorious video of him social distancing with his dad on Twitter?
Wait, he's what??
@@alexwright4930 I know. My mind was blown too. twitter.com/maxbrooksauthor/status/1239624352305303552
Nepotism in Hollywood? Never!!!
I really like Mel Brooks' films. Know next to nothing about his son.
I'M SORRY WHAT
Yep.
Contacts galore by growing up surrounded by the best may be how the audiobook to World War Z got such and AMAAAAZING voice acting, I supose. Max Brooks must know everyone and their children.
Love the book and loved to try to recognize all the voices in the audiobook cast.
One of my favorite 'plague' books is 'No Blade of Grass' by John Christopher. It explores a plague, not visited upon people, but on our food supply - specifically wheat, rice and other grains.
It's a long while since I read that. I used to be a big fan of John Christopher. I found out recently that they made a film of it, but I've never seen it. The novel struck me as a cross between John Wyndham and early JG Ballard.
"...aaaand zombies, let's tag in Dr. Z!" That was pretty great. I really love the different voice each of the writer/presenters brings to the channel, but it'd also be awesome to see that happen occasionally in the future where the topic crosses into one another's areas of expertise.
PBS Digital's been pretty good on that in the past. Space Time, Eons, It's Ok To Be Smart, SciShow, they all crossover when the subject matter encourages it. I'm sure Storied will keep doing that, too. (Dr. Z's been on Eons' episode on chimeras, for example).
My obsession for watching Transformers videos on TH-cam led me watch Lindsay's video about Starscream.
This then led me to watch It's Lit.
The crossover in this episode led me wach Dr Z's Monstrum series.
Then there was a crossover Monstrum vidoe with PBS Eons.
So where do I go after watching Eons?
I see that Hard Copy of "Axiom's End" up there on the shelf. Congratulations!
I cringed so hard when you dabbed. Well done. :>
A dab that makes people cringe is a dab done well sir!!! That's the ultimate test of its success.
It was delicously terrible
pvtpain66k I laughed out loud 😂
The hard cover book The Stand could be used for home defense. You hit somebody in the head with that they're going to go down and stay down.
If you can lift it. :)
“Still, it's the heaviest of all of these volumes, and thus, in hardback at least, could undoubtedly be used to stun a burglar; which has always been my definition of real art.” Neil Gaiman, foreword to The Kindly Ones
@@SirThinks2Much I take it you know about what Gaiman did recently? He travelled from New Zealand to northern Scotland under lockdown. A lot of the local Highland politicians are not happy.
This was so good! Also, I know I wasn’t the only one eyeing all of the books on the bookshelves.
Briana Michelle Meyer You were SO not.
I’m adding to my reading list while still watching the video...
I called my boyfriend in from the other room to show him they had matching shelves and collections
I KNOW! The bookshelves were giving me LIFE...
Yup. I’m thinking we’re at about 30% overlap.
First off, I've met Max Brooks. Really sweet and hilarious guy. Second, great exploration. May have given me an idea for a story of my own. I think I'll go share this now.
I see that AniMorphs book on your shelf Lindsay ;P
I am shocked that José Saramago's "Blindness" was not cited here.
That book is a plagio of the Camus's plague
@@nataliazart Personally I don't think the video needs to cover all pandemic lit, but Blindness has an utterly different plot from Camus' work. Both in the plot and how the world/characters function in light of it.
"Boy those books got squirrely..."I'm glad to find out that I'm not the only Science Fiction fan who feels exactly that same way about that series.
As we say in Spanish, "la realidad supera a la ficción." [Reality surpasses fiction.]
We have a similar one in Hungarian: Reality surpasses all imagination [a valóság felülmúl minden képzeletet]
“Truth is stranger than fiction” is a similar English phrase.
in brazil it will be: 'tá dificil competir com a realidade!' (the reality is hard to compete!)
Love how almost every language has the same idiom.
People who think truth is stranger than fiction obviously do not have a developed imagination.
"Boy those books got squirrelly." I like your phrasing. I'm going to start using that to describe all the other series I've read that start out interesting and then.. get... squirrelly.
I'm going to have to go off and find out "squirrelly" means. I take it that it doesn't refer to storing nuts.
@@anonb4632 It doesn't? Squirrels and book series, two things that can go nuts.
@@anonb4632 It's always meant "nuts" or "crazy" to me, which is the lead definition on Urban Dictionary. The (generally) more reliable dictionaries seem to think it's primarily eccentric, unpredictable, or erratic but...no, Urban's got them beat for once.
When one your subsciptions crosses over into the other.
Now, two months after, some of these themes seem even more relevant than ever
Seeing Axiom's End on your bookshelf was not the book teaser I was expecting.
I've been thinking a lot about Station Eleven while just sat about doing nothing, it for me really captures the human stories that just end when such a large scale event happens.
Dr Z has a good voice for talking about things that should cause nightmares in a way that makes me want to listen as I drift off to sleep. Very soothing.
It took reading the comments to realize this is Monstrum and not Lindsay’s normal channel. 😂
I believe that Monstrum and It's lit got merged under the Storied channel a couple of weeks ago.
Yep, that's right!
@@dns5280 actually it was months ago and it's a push by PBS to keep relevant content ongoing instead of sporadic on separate channels. Didn't make sense at first but now it does
One of my favorites is Frank Herbert's ‚The White Plague‘.
I haven't read any of Herbert's stuff outside of the Dune series. Is it good?
Can’t get enough of every kind of content that comes out of this channel, we’ll done and thank you so much
I love seeing how art and life mirror each other.
I don't
"Infinite Jest" is next to "The Chronicles of Narnia" on Lindsay's left (viewers' right). I don't know how I feel about those two books being in such close proximity.
Why is that?
I know this is a very small nitpicky thing, but as a history student I can't let this pass. When Lindsay talked about the black death at 2:09, a map of 9th century Europe is shown. This is just not correct: 9th century Europe was a very different place from 14th century Europe and it is important to show the right map to give the correct context of the period in which that particularly devasting plague swept through Europe
I would argue the map has nothing to do with what she was talking about at that point. It seemed like it was more of just an aesthetic. She only says that The Black Plague was an inspiration to many literature about pandemics, that's it.
More Lindsay content! It’s exactly what we need to get us through all this!
“Did you ever think that the real monster might be man!”
Geez, I am getting some super unwanted Ferngully flashbacks.
My favourite non-plague plague novel is On The Beach where the radiation is coming and there is no way to stop it and everyone has to accept an inevitable death in their own way. Not cheerful but weirdly uplifting as everyone tries to find the best way for themselves to survive as people in a society until they chose their own end
ahh a fellow Shute fan neat
I'm sorry but did I just see the word "lit"?
Wait, did she just dab?
"Wait, did she just dab?" was a real unexpected thought for this morn.
Reason why most of the time i only get excited when dr. Emily zarka is on the thumbnail
These are trying times, please try not to judge. Sanity is degrading for us all.
The quarantine has broken lindsay
Glad to see “I am Legend” - recommend “The Strain” and “Oryx and Crake” too.
"...what a time to be alive". sarcasm meter breaking records with that line XD
"By the time the rest of the world figured out what was going on, it would be too late" 😢
Love you guys, but I wished you'll had mentioned Blindness, by José Saramago.
I’m surprised you didn’t bring up The Girl With All the Gifts
I got so excited when Lindsay mentioned Illumiane, that trilogy is one of the best scifi series I've ever read!
Even though not discussed, I do appreciate Feed being prominently displayed on the shelf. Though a more straightforward exploration of the pandemic genre, it captured a great deal of day-to-day behavior and politics in a post-outbreak world rather well.
I was honestly surprised that it didn't get a mention, considering how thoroughly Seanan McGuire researched the epidemiology for it (and several other pandemic-related works she's written as Mira Grant). The Rising series is such a well-thought-out post-apocalyptic zombie-virus world, even if some of the expectations that made sense when it was written have become a little bit dated as social media has shifted models.
But I was still super-excited to see it on the shelf!
This was wonderful! When I read a Guardian article about pandemic literature, I shared and mentioned how World War Z needed to be on the list. I am so glad you did this. I was also gratified to see the Walking Dead comics (not the TV show, though it isn't bad) make the list, as well. Graphic Novels have developed a wonderful literary sensibility, and the fact that they explore these issues, while appealing to younger audiences, means that more young people can grow up thinking about important societal issues, especially as those issues get cut out of the classroom, increasingly, in favor of standardized tests' bite-sized facts.
The one reality we see with this pandemic is that too many people lack the ability to process information critically, instead accepting or rejecting it based upon their pre-existing political biases.
I am not sure which work of fiction covers that, besides Brooks to a degree, but maybe there is room for yet another look at pandemics as a lens to understand yet another problematic social dynamic.
Also, with regards to Brooks and "art imitating life." I am pretty sure he was well aware, besides the totalitarian aspect, that Chinese markets and farming practices are largely responsible for viruses transmitting to humans, as our annual flu season shows, so China was a no-brainer choice as a viral origin point.
I was surprised to not see a mention of Connie Willis's "The Doomsday Book".
The book follows a 23rd-century historian who goes back in time to research medieval Britain in the time before the Black Plague, but ends up being trapped in a village with no way to return back home when the Black Plague surprisingly arrives earlier than anticipated. In the meanwhile, a new influenza epidemic has stuck the Oxford of the "present day" 23rd-century, and the historical society our protaganist is from has to deal with the fallout of infections, quarantines, deaths, and the need to retain supplies and limited operations.
I've been thinking a lot about that book during the current pandemic, and about how incredibly similar the effects of the outbreaks (moreso the 23rd century one than the Black Death one) in "The Doomsday Book" reflect the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic today. It really does a great job of showing the importance of strong management systems and the dangers of not knowing (or not being able to convince others) how diseases like this spread.
Stuff doesn't usually make me cry but Doomsday Book did.
Just got the audiobook bc of this comment 👌 thanks for the rec, this book sounds fascinating!!
I was also surprised it didn't get a mention. I can't recall how I stumbled across it so many years ago now but I did and I was deeply affected by it. Especially as I share a name with the protagonist (sort of).
Does it embrace the standard "medieval people are flat out stupid" clichée?
Because they book that doesn't is quite rare.
Really enjoyed that book! (And I cried, too)
Connie Willis' Doomsday Book has been on my mind a *lot* lately. It was a fave of mine even before this pandemic, and now it feels like I'm living through it.
Same girl.
Station Eleven is the best read it today thank you
I had a college class that was Feminism and Sci-fi and Station Eleven was one of our class reads. We started reading it....immediately after the lockdowns in March 2020. I have never related more to a novel
surprised that Blindness by José Saramago wasn't mentioned! also super thematically relevant to this conversation about pandemic and societal breakdown
I found myself half-paying attention and half-examining Lindsay's bookshelf.
Not the only one. One shelf was identical to one of my shelves :D
@@Carewolf It's kind of quirk for me that whenever I come across another person's library, I zone out and examine it to get a read on their character.
But the shelves aren't ORGANIZED! Why is Ancillary Justice two books away from The Fault In Our Stars? The humanity! Oh, the humanity!
Man, I'm disappointed you never mentioned Jose Saramago's novel Blindness, where a plague of causing white blindness begins and in an effort to stop it from spreading, they just put all the sick people they can find in a hospital and leave them to fend for themselves. The protagonist is the wife of a doctor, and she fakes being blind so she can stay with her husband, and she can see the entire thing go down with people killing each other, guards killing infected people, people dying of infection and starvation... then they escape and it turns out that while they thought everyone abandoned them, it was just that the entire WORLD got infected, and then suddenly, everyone can just... see again. Very hard read, gross and graphic. 10/10, one of the best pieces of pandemic literature I've ever read.
I must have missed the memo that "It's Lit" had moved to a different channel.
Thanks for the words of encouragement, Lindsay. Sometimes we just need to hear that we're going survive this. :)
Here in November 2020 to say the best thing in my day was pausing to read your book titles and making the sentence "Shift the Wool Dust off Axiom's End".
Thanks for the Warm Bodies shout-out! Wish it happened under better circumstances...
I'm still not convinced that Not Dave Grohl is actually not Dave Grohl.
"we have always survived, learned, and adapted" well. except for, yknow, the ones who die or are irreparably changed by it. i get the sentiment, but the point of a pandemic is that there are many who very much do not do that thing that is meant to give us hope.
I haven't even watched the video yet, but the X-Wing novel on your shelf makes me happy. I'll click the like button just for that.
I see that Axiom's End copy on the shelf, Lindsey! Love it.
seeing that copy of Axiom's end in the background...... I want
I adore listening to Lindsay Ellis in these videos. It is an absolute delight to experience Lindsay’s intellectual humour and sarcasm.
I've been working on a novel for years that begins at the end of pandemic. I was just getting really into it and writing a ton when an actual pandemic broke out.
FML
Illuminae! Yaaaaaaas! Spectacular series. Takes a bit to get used to the format, but so so so worth it.
6:08 - “ _French philosopher Albert Camus also used the pandemic as a vehicle to explore the "we live in a society-_ ”
Must...resist..."rising up"...
Can anyone tell me the name of the classical piece that starts playing at 02:43? I can't for the life of me remember what it's called and dammit now I want to listen to it!!!
I see Wool, Shift, and Dust on the shelf! I have tried to get so many people to read those to no avail.
I have been curious as to the pandemics effect on the arts, so it's great to find your channel.
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker is a good book about an infection, although it’s not a pandemic because it’s restrained to one small town it’s a very good read! It doesn’t follow any one character but shows how scary it can be from the view a different people across various ages and stages of life.
Love the side came across this through the TH-cams and I find it fascinating
I read Station Eleven in January, and I was so shook in February.
Damn I thought this was Lindsay's channel for a second
Salut fellow romanule
@@remuslazar2033 salut 😂
2:40 I appreciate the use of Debussy Nocturnes!
I work in a bookstore that specializes in science fiction and fantasy books and looking at Lindsey's shelf and trying to understand the organisation is stressing me out. Scalzi between Buter and Corey and Kim Stanley Robinson in two different places... I need a tea and a lie down.
Yay! James S.A. Corey books on the shelf and protomolecule intro. Great video.
How did TH-cam just now recommend this channel to me, I watched all of Linsay Ellis's videos on her main channel all the time, and to think all of this extra content of hers is in another deep dive video essay based channel!
Lindsay has "Feed" on her shelf, which is a really good hard science zombie story (its treated as an infectious disease requiring quarantine measures, etc) which hs been on my mind a lot recently
My great-grandparents lived through the 1918 -1919 pandemic. I never met them but I sometimes wonder how they dealt with it. My great-grandfather served with the 372nd Infantry Regiment, 93rd Infantry Division US Army.
That was cool to learn about your ancestral history. On my case I don't even know any of them.
@@daleryanaldover6545 Thank you. Is it good to know where you come from. Although sometimes you might not like what you find. But it is what it is.
My grandfather lost two brothers to the Spanish flu. My great-grandmother was so devastated by her loss, she didn't record his birth in the family Bible. She assumed he would die too.
...I wasn’t expecting Lindsey, honestly idk what I was expecting bc I’ve never seen this channel before but that was a pleasant surprise.
Always love the amount of research you do for your videos. Great work
Gutted Blindness by José Saramago wasn't mentioned !
I've missed you. :) to end this year in a lighter note, I have my lit students analyze film -- using your Guardians vid essay as a mentor piece. I don't expect them to edit a video (at best, a googleslide presentation after their analytical comp). thank you for being awesome. you're my "make literature lit" role model #getlit
Wow. This video ends so so poetically! Beautiful!
THE EXPANSE IS THE BEST SCI FI SERIES OUT THERE RIGHT NOW!
I'm...distracted trying to figure out what Lindsay's possible decision-making process was that lead to her books being organized in that particular order...
Over a month old and the algorithm finally shows me this. Aside from that, in a twelve minute video covering pandemic and zombie lit, I was a little disappointed that the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant wasn't mentioned... especially since Feed is sitting on the shelf just over Lindsay's shoulder the whole time.
Kind of wish you had talked about Mary Shelley's The Last Man
It took me a journey to finally find and buy this book but it was worth it. I found myself engrossed in the alternate history she created, especially as the end drew near for all but a handful. It also represents a family unit of intimate friendship between two men that was beautifully written. And the ending was soul-crushing. I can not believe this was only published once and shelved for being too dystopian; it is now being recognized as a masterpiece.
I like that they used Vincent's last man on Earth over the other adaptations of I am Legend
You know with all these literature on past plagues ,you would of thought mankind would of learn by now .Great video guys.
Another piece of pandemic literature not mentioned here is one of the world's first post-apocalyptic science fiction novels (or possibly the very first), "The Last Man" by Mary Shelley, the mother of science fiction. I haven't finished reading it, but it definitely shows that themes of plague and post-apocalyptic fiction have always gone hand in hand.
Station Eleven is incredible. That is all.
“What a time to be alive!”
I had to keep rewinding because I kept looking at book titles.
Krishna Roskin They should have put the book titles in the video description or have a link to a page. It’s an educational channel after all.
This video is awesome! i would love more similar lists of books around a topic researched like this. I will go back and watch lots of the old epidoes on pbs' channle but please, please, please make more.
Axiom's End on the middle shelf. I see you, Lindsay!
I'm currently reading abbadon's gate from the expanse series , i started reading it because of the show ,witch i started watching because i kept hearing Kyle Hill (who is not a super villain ) go on and on about it , and now i see the series in your bookshelf and i'm so jelly ( i'm reading the e books )i can't wait for bookshops to be a thing again
By the way, the Feed series(I see it on the shelf) is really intriguing on how life went on after zombies. Limited numbers in stores, disinfecting, and testing before entrances. When this all started, the book made me think could this be our future? This series is my favorite because it explains why it happened and how they recovered.
Station Eleven is a great story that explores the present, past and possible future after a devastating pandemic
I read and watched Warm Bodies and hearing name dropped felt so good!
Don't forget "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis which actually covers two pandemics at the same time.
YES! Such an under-rated book ❤️