Essay Questions

“Oh, right, it’s only January” is a musing expressed by midway between thought and observation by a character in the story that conveys what context about the composition of the novel?

The character who saying more to himself than his conversational partner that 2020 has only just barely begun is Gaspery, a time-traveling detective. He has just made rather abstruse scientific comment about the transmissibility of something that has flown right over the head of those whom he is conversing. It takes just a moment for the utter confusion which suddenly develops on their faces at the mention of Covid-19 for him to realize his mistake. The actual presence of Covid-19 itself in the story is minor, but this moment in definitively implies that it is one of the many works of fiction to be produced during the pandemic that was strongly influenced by its impact.

How is the Covid-19 pandemic significantly influential in the storyline?

One of the main characters in the novel is Olive Llewellyn. She has embarked on a tour to publicize the newest edition of one of her books which coincides with plans to adapt the book into a movie. That novel is titled Marienbad and its plot revolves around a pandemic of what she describes as a “scientifically implausible flu.” Ultimately, the novel will become a case of art reflecting life reflecting art reflecting life as Olive finds herself actually dealing with the reality of being a writer in a lockdown stimulated by a viral outbreak which reaches the stage of pandemic.

What is the “simulation hypothesis” and what conclusion is made about it?

The simulation hypothesis is basically just a theoretical operating principle that makes the logical argument that if reality can be simulated to the point of not being recognized as a simulation, then the very possibility that everything leading to that point is itself a simulation cannot be ruled out. In other words, how can we ever be sure of what reality actually is if everything we think of as reality is merely a simulation? It is, of course, a mind-blowing possibility that raises all sorts of philosophical questions and forces an existential reexamination of what it means to be human. On the other hand, what’s the big deal since even a life lived within a simulated reality is still a live lived.