Station Eleven

Station Eleven

• Genre: Fiction; post-apocalyptic futuristic
• Originally Published: 2014
• Reading Level/Interest: College/adult
• Structure/Length: 9 parts; approx. 352 pages; approx. 10 hours, 40 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: After a flu epidemic decimates the human population, young actor Kirsten Raymonde joins a theater group called the Traveling Symphony that wanders from town to town performing music and plays. Intertwined with her story is that of her friend and fellow actor Arthur Leander, who dies early in the pandemic but whose son survives to become a cult leader in the harsh new world.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Suicide; brief mentions of attempted rape; violence

Emily St. John Mandel, Author

• Bio: Born 1979 in British Columbia, Canada; was homeschooled until age 15; as a child, wrote stories and poems that she shared with no one; planned to dance professionally and studied at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre; after dance school, decided to return to writing; first three books were crime thrillers; her fourth novel, Station Eleven, was adapted into an HBO series; lives in New York and Los Angeles
• Other Works: The Lola Quartet (2012); The Glass Hotel (2020); Sea of Tranquility (2022)
• Awards: National Book Award (finalist; 2014); Arthur C. Clarke Award (2015); PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (finalist; 2015); Toronto Book Award (2015)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Loss, Memory, and Nostalgia
• The Relationship Between Art and Life
• Determinism and Personal Responsibility

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the social and historical contexts regarding epidemics like the Georgian Flu that incite the conflicts among the characters in Station Eleven.
• Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Loss, Memory, and Nostalgia, The Relationship Between Art and Life, and Determinism and Personal Responsibility.
• Create a list of essential items that convey importance to society based on novel details.
• Analyze and evaluate plot and character details to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding Shakespeare’s influence on the novel, the contrasting characters of the prophet and Kirsten, and other topics.