Station Eleven
question
The intertextuality of STATION ELEVEN
Paige
Sep 15, 2014 08:44PM
I love finding evidence of intertextuality in art, and I get the sense that STATION ELEVEN is rife with allusions to other novels, TV shows, movies, etc.
Some obvious examples are the line from STAR TREK, "Because survival is insufficient," painted on The Travelling Symphony's caravan and tattooed on Kirstin's arm. Also the explicit discussion of Justin Cronin's novel THE PASSAGE, which one of the characters had read. Both of these are mentioned in the author's Acknowledgements section.
A few others I noticed:
Arthur's last name is Leander, which is the name of the male suitor in the Greek myth of Hero and Leander. Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite, lives in a seaside tower; Leander, having fallen in love with her, swims to her every night. Hero lights her lamp each night to guide Leander, but a storm one night extinguishes the light and Leander drowns. Upon seeing her lover's body washed up on shore the following morning, Hero throws herself out of the tower and plummets to her own death. Shakespeare referenced this myth in several of his plays.
Then there is Miranda, Arthur's first wife, who shares her name with one of the principal characters in Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST: one of three women mentioned throughout the duration of the play; one of three of Arthur's wives in STATION ELEVEN.
In both stories above, the sea plays a crucially threatening role, as does The Undersea in Miranda's comic books.
I also noticed a nod to Leonard Cohen at start of one of Arthur's letters to V. I can't find it now, but the opening line is "Toronto is cold but I like where I'm living," which, if you swap out New York for Toronto, is the first line from Cohen's well-known song "Famous Blue Raincoat." This may just be a playful homage to St. John Mandel's Canadian heritage, her first novel having been set in Cohen's hometown of Montreal.
One last thing, though its not so much intertextual as an interesting tidbit: Jeevan, a popular Indian name, translates into English as "bringer of life"--ironic, given that he failed to resuscitate Arthur onstage, but fitting in that, in the end, he has married and had children in a town that has found a way to once again generate electricity twenty years after the epidemic.
Anyway, I'm quite sure there are more references that I haven't caught, or that I wouldn't have even been able to catch, so if there are any other instances of intertextuality that you noted while reading STATION ELEVEN, I'd love to hear about them!
Some obvious examples are the line from STAR TREK, "Because survival is insufficient," painted on The Travelling Symphony's caravan and tattooed on Kirstin's arm. Also the explicit discussion of Justin Cronin's novel THE PASSAGE, which one of the characters had read. Both of these are mentioned in the author's Acknowledgements section.
A few others I noticed:
Arthur's last name is Leander, which is the name of the male suitor in the Greek myth of Hero and Leander. Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite, lives in a seaside tower; Leander, having fallen in love with her, swims to her every night. Hero lights her lamp each night to guide Leander, but a storm one night extinguishes the light and Leander drowns. Upon seeing her lover's body washed up on shore the following morning, Hero throws herself out of the tower and plummets to her own death. Shakespeare referenced this myth in several of his plays.
Then there is Miranda, Arthur's first wife, who shares her name with one of the principal characters in Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST: one of three women mentioned throughout the duration of the play; one of three of Arthur's wives in STATION ELEVEN.
In both stories above, the sea plays a crucially threatening role, as does The Undersea in Miranda's comic books.
I also noticed a nod to Leonard Cohen at start of one of Arthur's letters to V. I can't find it now, but the opening line is "Toronto is cold but I like where I'm living," which, if you swap out New York for Toronto, is the first line from Cohen's well-known song "Famous Blue Raincoat." This may just be a playful homage to St. John Mandel's Canadian heritage, her first novel having been set in Cohen's hometown of Montreal.
One last thing, though its not so much intertextual as an interesting tidbit: Jeevan, a popular Indian name, translates into English as "bringer of life"--ironic, given that he failed to resuscitate Arthur onstage, but fitting in that, in the end, he has married and had children in a town that has found a way to once again generate electricity twenty years after the epidemic.
Anyway, I'm quite sure there are more references that I haven't caught, or that I wouldn't have even been able to catch, so if there are any other instances of intertextuality that you noted while reading STATION ELEVEN, I'd love to hear about them!
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What you point to highlights the importance of a well-rounded education (formal or informal). What a reader sees in or takes from a book is influenced by what the reader brings to the book.
I like this technique and liked it in this book. I have used it myself in novels, naming one character Dora, which turns out to be a nickname for Pandora in a tale that is a modern variation of the Greek myth. In another, I have a German character find and read a copy of Wie Deutsche Ist Es? (How German Is it), a book about finding one's inner German in modern times, which is part of what my character is doing.
I've got another I'm finishing up that has character interacting with various songs whose lyrics are relevant for the situation they are in, like Tom Waits's "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You."
I try not to hit readers over the head with these references. If you know something about them, I hope you get some extra enjoyment, but you can also just blitz past them in blissful ignorance.
I've got another I'm finishing up that has character interacting with various songs whose lyrics are relevant for the situation they are in, like Tom Waits's "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You."
I try not to hit readers over the head with these references. If you know something about them, I hope you get some extra enjoyment, but you can also just blitz past them in blissful ignorance.
Paige wrote: "I love finding evidence of intertextuality in art, and I get the sense that STATION ELEVEN is rife with allusions to other novels, TV shows, movies, etc.
Some obvious examples are the line from S..."
This is great, particularly in light of the fact that she weaves the text of Station 11 throughout the story. I didn't catch all of these as I read, but now that I do, it adds to the complexity of what I thought was a brilliant novel. I did like the reference to The Passage, because I greatly enjoyed those works as well.
Some obvious examples are the line from S..."
This is great, particularly in light of the fact that she weaves the text of Station 11 throughout the story. I didn't catch all of these as I read, but now that I do, it adds to the complexity of what I thought was a brilliant novel. I did like the reference to The Passage, because I greatly enjoyed those works as well.
Paige wrote: "I love finding evidence of intertextuality in art, and I get the sense that STATION ELEVEN is rife with allusions to other novels, TV shows, movies, etc."
Didn't catch most of that, thanks for the explanations!
Didn't catch most of that, thanks for the explanations!
Gary, April 24, 2017
Paige, thanks for this. Your text references make sense to me. When I first read the novel on the surface I really enjoyed it - but I kept having the nagging thought that Emily St.John Mandel had a purpose in the selection of the title and in the Shakespearean references. So I went back to do a second read through. One thought I had was re the title, Station Eleven. Got me thinking about The Stations of the Cross - turns out Station Eleven is the crucifixion, nailed to the cross - this long period of suffering - inflicted on an innocent. I also thought about Arthur with the flowers in his hair - which got me thinking about King Arthur and Camelot and the death of a 51 year old man with flowers in his hair and the 1960's and the end of the hope of that generation.
Love the novel even more the 2nd time
Paige, thanks for this. Your text references make sense to me. When I first read the novel on the surface I really enjoyed it - but I kept having the nagging thought that Emily St.John Mandel had a purpose in the selection of the title and in the Shakespearean references. So I went back to do a second read through. One thought I had was re the title, Station Eleven. Got me thinking about The Stations of the Cross - turns out Station Eleven is the crucifixion, nailed to the cross - this long period of suffering - inflicted on an innocent. I also thought about Arthur with the flowers in his hair - which got me thinking about King Arthur and Camelot and the death of a 51 year old man with flowers in his hair and the 1960's and the end of the hope of that generation.
Love the novel even more the 2nd time
In ré Gary's 2017 comment: When i saw Station Eleven, my first thought was "stations of the cross". I looked it up, found that "station eleven" is of course the crucifixion. The last station is 14, Jesus's burial. And then what happened? The resurrection. As i finished the novel, this parallel thread sent chills down my spine.
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