This study places literature's response to pandemics in a broader framework to better comprehend literature and its roles within the shifting paradigms of a world tormented by humanitarian catastrophes. Only literary works depicting pandemics can get into the trauma and losses sustained by people worldwide. This is why the world has not returned to normalcy so long after the outbreak of Covid-19 and the availability of vaccines. Hence, in such uncertain times, the study of literature involving pandemics becomes inevitable and requires a humanistic comprehension of the works under inspection. Literary works documenting the effects of pandemics on social, psychological, educational, and cultural spheres are analyzed to learn more about people's reactions to the epidemics, the strategies they developed to survive, and the methods they used to cope with the pain and trauma they experienced as a result of the pandemics. The scope of this article is limited to a few books that all share a common theme, pandemics, and focus on its many consequences, including trauma, tragedy, loss of life, and the following mental anguish. Two of the works cover genuine plagues, such as Cholera and avian flu, and the disasters they caused, while the third one imagines the advent of a lethal pandemic and will be compared to the other two to address these concerns. Taha Hussein's The Days, Ahmed Khalid Towfik's About Birds We Talk( ), and Mohammed Gamal a Gamal's Dreams of Resurrection are the three works of literature being compared and contrasted.
This study places literature's response to pandemics in a broader framework to better comprehend literature and its roles within the shifting paradigms of a world tormented by humanitarian catastrophes. Only literary works depicting pandemics can get into the trauma and losses sustained by people worldwide. This is why the world has not returned to normalcy so long after the outbreak of Covid-19 and the availability of vaccines. Hence, in such uncertain times, the study of literature involving pandemics becomes inevitable and requires a humanistic comprehension of the works under inspection. Literary works documenting the effects of pandemics on social, psychological, educational, and cultural spheres are analyzed to learn more about people's reactions to the epidemics, the strategies they developed to survive, and the methods they used to cope with the pain and trauma they experienced as a result of the pandemics. The scope of this article is limited to a few books that all share a common theme, pandemics, and focus on its many consequences, including trauma, tragedy, loss of life, and the following mental anguish. Two of the works cover genuine plagues, such as Cholera and avian flu, and the disasters they caused, while the third one imagines the advent of a lethal pandemic and will be compared to the other two to address these concerns. Taha Hussein's The Days, Ahmed Khalid Towfik's About Birds We Talk( ), and Mohammed Gamal a Gamal's Dreams of Resurrection are the three works of literature being compared and contrasted.