Corpus of literature is replete with works that feature pandemics as central themes. As a response to diseases outbreaks, fiction writers portray the human condition and the shifts in human behaviour at these crucial junctures of human history. Plot structure and characterization accounts for the void –both within and without—: prevailing chaos, crumbling social structures, undermining of religious values, and Government’s apathy. Based on such themes, this paper examines, from Deterministic and Existentialistic perspectives, three representative fictions written in the 21 century: Reina James’s This Time of Dying (2006) on the deadly influenza of 1918, Amir Taj Elsir’s Ebola ’76 (2012) on the outbreak of Ebola in 1976, and Karen Maitland’s The Plague Charmer (2016) on the plague of 1361. The findings include: (a) the novels predict the contemporary society with their resonance of apocalyptic images and preventive measures, (b) they manifest ontological shifts as the orthodox worldviews are jolted, and (c) fictional and personal narratives are not less important than historical records on health in quest for existence.

中文翻译：

---

流行病叙事：颠倒的人类状况和对生存的追求

文学语料库中充满了以流行病为中心主题的作品。作为对疾病爆发的回应，小说作家描绘了人类历史上这些关键时刻的人类状况和人类行为的变化。情节结构和特征解释了内部和外部的空虚：普遍的混乱、摇摇欲坠的社会结构、破坏宗教价值观和政府的冷漠。基于这些主题，本文从决定论和存在主义的角度考察了 21 世纪创作的三部代表性小说：雷纳·詹姆斯的《死亡时刻》（2006 年）关于 1918 年致命的流感，阿米尔·泰姬·埃尔西尔的“76 年埃博拉”（2012 年）关于1976 年埃博拉的爆发，以及 Karen Maitland 的 The Plague Charmer (2016) 关于 1361 年的瘟疫。 调查结果包括：