Narrating the Pandemic: American Short Fiction, Covid-19, and the Feminine Sublime

This article investigates how the American short story responded to the Covid-19 pandemic. It shows how several authors turned to an aesthetic that Barbara Claire Freeman defined in 1995 as the “feminine sublime”, which they used to express the fear of contagion and the sense of isolation and uncertainty that characterised the lockdown era. Through readings of Victor LaValle’s “Recognition” (2020), Liz Moore’s “Clinical Notes” (2020), and Lorrie Moore’s “Face Time” (2020), the study argues that these authors portrayed the overwhelming aspects of the health emergency without conceding to a rhetoric of mastery and dominion over a threatening force. Instead, they articulated an aesthetic that derives empowerment from acceptance of excess, and from interconnection with other people. The article also suggests that the adoption of this mode of the sublime can be read as a response to the climate of bitter polarisation that characterised American society in 2020.