What literature tells about people's struggle with faith during pandemic

Giovanni Boccaccio's "The Decameron" - sales of which have reportedly risen during the coronavirus - faith and religion are mocked and satirized

A recent Pew Research poll found that religious faith had deepened for a quarter of Americans because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Some might indeed take solace in religion at a time of uncertainty, such as a pandemic, but the literary texts that I teach in my university course, “Pandemics in Literature,” suggest that this is not always the case: Faith may deepen for some, while others may reject or abandon it altogether.

Christianity and the Black Death

In one of the most well known works of pandemic literature, Giovanni Boccaccio’s “The Decameron” – sales of which have