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As a writer, with a cautious but nascent interest in epic, I noticed how poised the world was for a catastrophe in 2020. Dramatically, it was highly anticipated: we needed a turning point.
The fatal state of mind that Greta Thunberg and many thousands of others had prepared us to close communities, stop flying overnight Everything was suddenly possible, even a previously non-negotiable economic growth was left behind. Compared to how the world reacted to swine flu, which was also classified as a pandemic, this is a completely different reaction.
The disturber the background tone was much stronger, it had almost become monotonous. Something had to happen and the spread of the Chinese virus seemed like a dramatic climax. A loud bang that brings everything to a halt, all unsecured deals
In addiction treatment, this is called “going to the bottom” and it is a known evil and necessary to sober up. The logic of the dramaturgy paid off in paradisiacal images of foggy glades and dolphins swimming in the canals of Venice. It was a constant rush of adrenaline, like in a good story.
This fall, we are in the least dramatic but most decisive phase when the adrenaline wears off and it will gradually be decided whether a pandemic was enough to reverse the poisoning of unsustainable development.
Could Preem cancel his plans on Lysekil be a ray of hope?
The year 2020 has in any case demonstrated, with a more than desirable clarity, that another world is possible. And that humans are governed by stories.
I don’t really want to be dystopian, but as a writer struggling by the rules of the epic, I have at least understood that the tipping points must have very powerful consequences, otherwise they don’t seem credible but they happen to the reader as the great story simmers. slow, waiting for a stronger turning point. .
Tove Folkesson is the author, most recently, of “Her Words” (2019), the first part of the planned “Pain” trilogy of novels.
