Station Eleven
by Emily St. John Mandel
Contents
Chapter 31
Overview
In a Year Fifteen interview, Kirsten answers François Diallo’s questions about the Collapse by returning to the night it began for her: the King Lear performance in Toronto when Arthur Leander died onstage. She recalls Arthur’s kindness and the chaotic moment an unidentified audience member rushed up to help. The conversation frames Kirsten’s early trauma and preserves a key, still-anonymous figure in her story.
Summary
In Year Fifteen, François Diallo continues his recorded interview with Kirsten Raymonde for the New Petoskey News. Diallo apologizes for asking about Kirsten’s knife tattoos, and Kirsten accepts the apology.
Diallo shifts to the topic of the Collapse and asks where Kirsten was at the beginning. Kirsten says she was in Toronto and not with her parents; she places the moment as “Day One” or “Night One.”
Kirsten explains she was performing in King Lear when the lead actor, Arthur Leander, suffered a heart attack and died onstage. She admits she remembers few details about Arthur but retains a strong impression that Arthur was kind to her and that they had a friendship. Kirsten vividly recalls the sound of Arthur’s hand striking a plywood pillar as he stumbled, and she remembers a man from the audience climbing onto the stage and running toward Arthur. Diallo notes the unidentified man who performed CPR appears in Arthur’s New York Times obituary, but neither Diallo nor Kirsten knows his name.
Who Appears
- Kirsten RaymondeInterviewee; recalls Night One in Toronto and Arthur Leander’s onstage death.
- François DialloNew Petoskey librarian/publisher; interviews Kirsten about the Collapse and Arthur’s death.
- Arthur LeanderActor who died of a heart attack onstage during Kirsten’s King Lear performance.
- Unnamed audience member (CPR helper)Man who climbed onstage to help Arthur; remembered as kind, identity unknown.