Station Eleven: Style 1 key example

By contrast, the novel’s survival narratives in the post-pandemic world of its present move far less quickly. Because these sections are slow, they reinforce the contrast between the fast pace of the lost modern world and the comparatively rudimentary lifestyle of the novel’s present. The only remaining bridge between pre- and post-pandemic life are the characters' various memories. The novel’s syntax also tends toward long, poetic sentences when characters are musing on the things they’ve lost and the way the world has changed. When Mandel breaks this structure in moments of high drama, it feels abrupt and frightening. The book also incorporates different formats of writing in its many short chapters, including interview transcripts and fragments of poetry.

Mandel's diction is precise and journalistic, at times almost clinical. This is particularly true in descriptions of the way the Georgia Flu spreads and the undignified mechanics of survival. This controlled, detached language contrasts with the book’s more expressive and descriptive sections. Mandel’s writing contains many more adjectives and far more emotional language when Station Eleven focuses on the loss of culture and community the pandemic caused. The novel also “remembers” the world of the past through its many allusions to art and literature, in particular the Shakespeare plays the Symphony perform for the humans still surviving. Mandel also uses simile and metaphor throughout to connect the pre- and post-pandemic worlds. She often likens remnants of civilization—whether they’re found objects or living people—to museum exhibits or ghosts. The use of metaphor also extends to the Prophet’s fanatical rhetoric, where he turns religious imagery of the biblical flood into a morality tale about why some people remain alive.