ABSTRACT
In Connie Willis’s Nebula and Hugo-award-winning novel Doomsday Book, pandemics are a semi-regular occurrence. Their cyclical nature not only mirrors real life, but also allows Willis to contrast scientific/medical progress with social-emotional progress and to engage the various ways societies evolve and devolve. Oxford, 2054 is far better prepared scientifically and logistically to deal with an epidemic than a small English village during the outbreak of the Plague, and yet, the outbreak elicits nationalism, xenophobia, and selfishness. Humans may not be able to avoid pandemics, just as they can’t avoid tornadoes or hurricanes, but they can break the destructive and dehumanizing cycles that often come with them, which are often obscured by narratives of scientific progress.
