Time travel, autofiction, and pandemics. Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel has it all

Her claim to fame came in 2014 with her fourth novel, “Station Eleven” — a post-apocalyptic pandemic survival tale that’s garnered new meaning over the last two years. It’s been adapted into a hit HBO Max series.

Now, Emily St. John Mandel is back with her latest work of speculative fiction, “Sea of Tranquility.” It’s a pandemic novel written during a pandemic… about an author who wrote a pandemic novel right before a pandemic — so it, too, promises to hit close to home.

From WIRED:

wrote in an essay about simulation theory. Kehe argues that several recent books touching on simulation theory “make the case not only that one can live meaningfully in a simulated world, but that one should.”

We talk with Emily St. John Mandel about making meaning with speculative fiction.

Copyright 2022 WAMU 88.5. To see more, visit WAMU 88.5.