Flowers of Time : On Postapocalyptic Fiction /
Payne, Mark
Flowers of Time : On Postapocalyptic Fiction / Mark Payne. - 1 online resource (206 p.)
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Postapocalyptic Pastoral -- 1. The Apocalyptic Cosmos -- 2. The Persistence of Memory -- 3. Survivalist Anthropology -- Conclusion: Landscape with Figures -- Works Cited -- Index -- A Note on the Type
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
An exploration of postapocalyptic fiction, from antiquity to today, and its connections to political theory and other literary genresThe literary lineage of postapocalyptic fiction—stories set after civilization’s destruction—is a long one, spanning the biblical tale of Noah and Hesiod’s Works and Days to the works of Mary Shelley, Octavia Butler, Cormac McCarthy, and many others. Traveling from antiquity to the present, Flowers of Time reveals how postapocalyptic fiction differs from other genres—pastoral poetry, science fiction, and the maroon narrative—that also explore human capabilities beyond the constraints of civilization. Mark Payne places postapocalyptic fiction into conversation with such theorists as Aristotle, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Carl Schmitt, illustrating how the genre functions as political theory in fictional form.Payne shows that rather than argue for a particular way of life, postapocalyptic literature reveals what it would be like to inhabit that life. He considers the genre’s appeal in our own historical moment, contending that this fiction is the pastoral of our time. Whereas the pastoralist and the maroon could escape to real-world hills and fashion their own versions of freedom, on a fully owned and occupied Earth, only an apocalyptic event can create a space where such freedoms are feasible once again.Flowers of Time looks at how fictional narratives set after the world’s devastation represent new conditions and possibilities for life and humanity.
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
In English.
9780691206400
10.1515/9780691206400 doi
2020002322
Apocalypse in literature.
Apocalyptic fiction--History and criticism.
Dystopias in literature.
Dystopias--History.
End of the world in literature.
Science fiction--History and criticism.
LITERARY CRITICISM / Science Fiction & Fantasy.
Apocalypse and Post-Politics. Claire Curtis. Gilgamesh. Heather Hicks. Hesiod. John Hay. Margaret Atwood. Mary Manjikian. Mary Shelley. Post-Apocalyptic Culture. Postapocalyptic Fantasies in Antebellum American Literature. Postapocalyptic Fiction and the Social Contract. Teresa Heffernan. Terminal Vision: The Literature of Last Things. The Last Man. The Post-Apocalyptic Novel in the Twenty-First Century. Ursula Le Guin. Warren Wagar. ancient. apocalypse. catastrophe. civilization. freedom. maroon. memory. myth. nature. pastoral. philosophical training. primitive. survival practice. survival. survivalist anthropology. survivalist fiction. the apocalyptic cosmos. zombie.
PN56.A69 PN56.A69 / P39 2021
809.39372
Flowers of Time : On Postapocalyptic Fiction / Mark Payne. - 1 online resource (206 p.)
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Postapocalyptic Pastoral -- 1. The Apocalyptic Cosmos -- 2. The Persistence of Memory -- 3. Survivalist Anthropology -- Conclusion: Landscape with Figures -- Works Cited -- Index -- A Note on the Type
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
An exploration of postapocalyptic fiction, from antiquity to today, and its connections to political theory and other literary genresThe literary lineage of postapocalyptic fiction—stories set after civilization’s destruction—is a long one, spanning the biblical tale of Noah and Hesiod’s Works and Days to the works of Mary Shelley, Octavia Butler, Cormac McCarthy, and many others. Traveling from antiquity to the present, Flowers of Time reveals how postapocalyptic fiction differs from other genres—pastoral poetry, science fiction, and the maroon narrative—that also explore human capabilities beyond the constraints of civilization. Mark Payne places postapocalyptic fiction into conversation with such theorists as Aristotle, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Carl Schmitt, illustrating how the genre functions as political theory in fictional form.Payne shows that rather than argue for a particular way of life, postapocalyptic literature reveals what it would be like to inhabit that life. He considers the genre’s appeal in our own historical moment, contending that this fiction is the pastoral of our time. Whereas the pastoralist and the maroon could escape to real-world hills and fashion their own versions of freedom, on a fully owned and occupied Earth, only an apocalyptic event can create a space where such freedoms are feasible once again.Flowers of Time looks at how fictional narratives set after the world’s devastation represent new conditions and possibilities for life and humanity.
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
In English.
9780691206400
10.1515/9780691206400 doi
2020002322
Apocalypse in literature.
Apocalyptic fiction--History and criticism.
Dystopias in literature.
Dystopias--History.
End of the world in literature.
Science fiction--History and criticism.
LITERARY CRITICISM / Science Fiction & Fantasy.
Apocalypse and Post-Politics. Claire Curtis. Gilgamesh. Heather Hicks. Hesiod. John Hay. Margaret Atwood. Mary Manjikian. Mary Shelley. Post-Apocalyptic Culture. Postapocalyptic Fantasies in Antebellum American Literature. Postapocalyptic Fiction and the Social Contract. Teresa Heffernan. Terminal Vision: The Literature of Last Things. The Last Man. The Post-Apocalyptic Novel in the Twenty-First Century. Ursula Le Guin. Warren Wagar. ancient. apocalypse. catastrophe. civilization. freedom. maroon. memory. myth. nature. pastoral. philosophical training. primitive. survival practice. survival. survivalist anthropology. survivalist fiction. the apocalyptic cosmos. zombie.
PN56.A69 PN56.A69 / P39 2021
809.39372