Abstract

Emerging research indicates that anxiety, depression, distress, and psychological functioning issues are post-trauma symptoms linked to mental health issues experienced by COVID-19 survivors. This research article aims to shed light on the role of fictional narratives that portray the theme of pandemics in reconstructing an optimistic vision of health for future generations. It explores how such narratives offer readers deep simulative models of reality and are not only a source of entertainment. Orhan Pamuk’s novel, Nights of Plague, is chosen for this research article due to its setting on a fictitious Mingheria island in 1900, where an uncontrollable pandemic destroys its inhabitants. This research will be read using the approach of postnormal times (PNT) and futurism theories made famous by Ziauddin Sardar. The research aims to uncover critical features of postnormal symptoms, such as uncertainty and ignorance in the characters’ behaviors, and to analyze themes that provide current readers with a better understanding of pandemics.