Flowers of Time : : On Postapocalyptic Fiction / / Mark Payne.

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 D...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2020 English
VerfasserIn:
Place / Publishing House:Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2020]
©2020
Year of Publication:2020
Language:English
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource (206 p.)
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Other title: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
Summary: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.
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9780691206400
9783110704716
9783110704518
9783110704747
9783110704532
9783110690088
DOI:10.1515/9780691206400?locatt=mode:legacy
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Mark Payne.