EP 53 Read Into Station Eleven - Part 2 Read Into This

Alanna, Lisa and Beth jump right into the second quarter of Emily St. John Mandel’s novel Station Eleven. In this episode we unpack some of the themes that are emerging and we are particularly drawn to Mandel’s use of memory and time with multiple narrators and also a non-linear timeline.

We start to explore the abandoned places that are explored in the novel, and the technology objects that are left behind. We talk about Ai Weiwei’s work as a protest against Chinese nationalist policies and how he plays with value of objects, the same way Mandel is. We talk a lot about how children and families fit into the pandemic and the conditions that we’re experiencing, that are emphasized in the novel.

We talk about the power of cultural artifacts to transform us back to moments of impact where we were called to action or to think in a different way.

Here’s the theme wheel we talk about: https://www.litcharts.com/lit/station-eleven/chart-board-visualization

Jump into the conversation with us on TVO’s TeachOntario:
https://www.teachontario.ca/community/explore/TO-OSLA-book-club/projects/station-eleven

Shoutouts to this previous episode with Rolland Chidiac and Chris Cluff:
EP 08 How do stories hold us? What stories do you hold on to?

https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/ep-08-how-do-stories-hold-us-what-stories-do-you-hold-on-to/