The novel was written in the late 1940s, after the end of WW2. The version on my shelf has a copyright of 1947 but wikipedia says 1949. The impact of the story is that 80 years ago someone wrote about a global pandemic and its eventual impact on people. Ish represents the reader, someone who did not have to watch people die, watch the news, feel the hoplessness and defeat. Those he meets represent the ways people might deal with these huge losses. It very much ties into the poem of Ozymandias. The fraility of man and the bravado of humankind in its accomplishments. I look forward to the remaining episodes and am re-reading the novel yet again.

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