Question

An essay on "After the Corona Crisis"

Answer 1

Answer:

Never mind ‘writing a novel’, for the first two weeks of the lockdown I could barely read a page.

Since the coronavirus outbreak began, concentrating on anything outside the rolling horror of the news, the anxious babble of social media and messages from loved ones has felt like some sort of dereliction of duty.

When I sat down to read, it felt like looking at a language I’d forgotten, the words glaring back at me in mutual incomprehension. I could barely focus for a minute before my eyes flickered back to my phone like it was a burbling baby monitor. This is not the time to 'escape’ into a story, I admonished myself, you’re living through one too important to miss.

Answer 2

Explanation:

Since the coronavirus outbreak began, concentrating on anything outside the rolling horror of the news, the anxious babble of social media and messages from loved ones has felt like some sort of dereliction of duty.

When I sat down to read, it felt like looking at a language I’d forgotten, the words glaring back at me in mutual incomprehension. I could barely focus for a minute before my eyes flickered back to my phone like it was a burbling baby monitor. This is not the time to 'escape’ into a story, I admonished myself, you’re living through one too important to miss.