Thematically, Mandel borrows from the tragedy, and she also stages two production of the play within her novel, one before and one after the collapse.
The primary example of this is Shakespeare, specifically King Lear. Station Eleven contains many explicit references to other works of art, and relies on them heavily for source material. It could be considered a worst-case scenario of the Swine Flu or Ebola pandemics. In other words, while the Georgia Flu is fictional, something like it occurring is far from impossible. Such outbreaks could be said to contribute to the fear surrounding deadly viruses and diseases, while lending some credibility to the future Mandel describes.
Other historical events of note are the 2009 “Swine Flu” pandemic, which generated tremendous fear and media coverage, as well as the 2014 Ebola outbreak, which occurred around the time of the novel’s publication. Bouts of the plague occasionally returned, and more than once closed theatres in Shakespeare’s England –which places Shakespeare’s plays, a great source of material for Mandel and her characters, in a distant yet similar context to the world devastated by the Georgia Flu. The first is the spread of the bubonic plague (or Black Death) in Asia, Africa, and Europe during the 14th century, when about a quarter of the population perished. While the novel does not include specific historical events as part of its plot, a number of events provide inspiration and resonance.
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