Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between

"NYU microbiology professor Osmundson is a literary essayist—his models and polestars are writers like Joan Didion, Susan Sontag, and Eula Biss, though he also thoughtfully critiques their work—as well as a cleareyed science writer...His ability to explicate queer theory and epidemiology allows him to make thoughtful connections between the pandemic and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s...Then as now, he observes, racist responses to outbreaks led to scapegoating, demonization, and needless death; then as now, relationships are redefined by medications and shifting definitions of wellness...The author writes in various modes, from literary criticism to polemic (Andrew Sullivan comes in for particular scorn) to diarist, the last of which is a potent reminder of the uncertainty and fear that came with the arrival of Covid-19...Throughout, Osmundson exposes how a virus reveals societies' connections and bigotries...A welcome, well-informed, queer-positive study of the blind spots a pandemic reveals."

"Recognizing this provides hope for all of us, he insists, especially through the development of vaccines...A collection that weaves together the raggedness of the personal with the chaos of the political..."

"A virus will never be dominated,' he suggests, recommending an approach to quarantine and social distancing that's based on care and community...'On Endings' is a moving reflection on the HIV epidemic, in which Osmundson considers how 'queer people provide a model..."