Imagining apocalypse : studies in cultural crisis

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Bibliographic Information

Imagining apocalypse : studies in cultural crisis

edited by David Seed

Macmillan , St. Martin's Press, 2000

  • uk
  • us

Available at  / 5 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

us ISBN 9780312222796

Description

This volume brings together essays by specialists in different disciplines on the cultural expression of apocalypse, in particular in anglophone science fiction of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Approaching these works from historical, philosophical, linguistic and literary perspectives, the contributors examine the relationship between secular and spiritual apocalypse, connecting the fiction and films to their historical moment. Not surprisingly, war recurs throughout this material, as a critical turning-point, fulfilment of prophecy, or prelude to a new age. In particular the essays explore the issue of whether modern apocalypse is seen as an ending or a beginning, considered under its political, ethnic and gendered aspects. Among the writers covered are H. G. Wells, Olaf Stapledon and such contemporary figures as Michael Moorcock, J. G. Ballard and Storm Constantine.
Volume

uk ISBN 9780333714522

Description

This volume brings together essays on the cultural expression of apocalypse primarily in anglophone science fiction of the 19th and 20th centuries. Focusing on themes, writers and individual works, the contributors examine the relation between secular and spiritual apocalypse, connecting the fiction and films to their historical moment. Not surprisingly, war recurs throughout this material, as a critical turning point, fulfilment of prophecy, or prelude to a new age. Among the writers covered are H.G. Wells, Olaf Stapledon and such contemporary figures as Michael Moorcock, J.G. Ballard and Storm Constantine.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction - aspects of apocalypse, D. Seed
  • the tales of the last days, 1805-3794, I.F. Clarke
  • the end of ages, S.R.L. Clark
  • re-writing the Christian apocalypse as a science fictional event, E. James
  • Edwardian awakenings - H.G. Wells's apocalyptic romances, 1989-1915
  • P. Parrinder
  • acts of God, R. Crossley
  • the dawn of the atomic age, D. Seed
  • silo psychosis - diagnosing America's nuclear anxieties, C. Gannon
  • pocket apocalypse - survivalist fictions from "Walden" to "The Incredible Shrinking Man", G. Slusser
  • "An unrehearsed theatre of technology" - Oedipalizations and vision in Ballard's "Crash", N. Davis
  • "disguising doom" - a study of the linguistic features of audience manipulations on Michael Moorcock's "The Eternal Champion", M. Hoey
  • storm, whirlwind and earthquake - apocalypse and the African-American novel A.R. Lee
  • stylish apocalypse - Storm Constantine's "Wraeththu" trilogy, V. Gough
  • Jews and "Independence Day", women and Independence Day - science fiction apocalypse now evokes feminism and Nazism, M. Barr
  • future/present - the end of science fiction, V. Hollinger.

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