Postapocalyptic fiction and the social contract : "we'll not go home again" /
Curtis, Claire P., 1965-
Postapocalyptic fiction and the social contract : "we'll not go home again" / Claire P. Curtis. - Lanham : Lexington Books, c2010. - 1 online resource (ix, 199 p.)
Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-194) and index.
Last one out, please turn out the lights : On the beach and The road -- "Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" : Hobbes and Lucifer's Hammer, the classic post-apocalyptic text -- "Industrious and rational" : John Locke and Alas, Babylon: the rational life post-apocalypse -- Man is born free; and everywhere is in chains: Rousseau and Malevil: the responsibilities of civil life -- "Maybe effort counted" : John Rawls and thought experiments -- "To take root among the stars" : Octavia Butler's parable of the sower and rethinking the social contract -- "We can choose" : Octavia Butler's parable of the talents and the meaning of security.
"Postapocalyptic Fiction and the Social Contract: We'll Not Go Home Again provides a framework for our fascination with the apocalyptic events. The popular appeal of the end of the world genre is clear in movies, novels, and television shows. Even our political debates over global warming, nuclear threats, and pandemic disease reflect a concern about the possibility of such events. This popular fascination is really a fascination with survival: how can we come out alive? And what would we do next? The end of the world is not about species death, but about beginning again. This book uses postapocalyptic fiction as a terrain for thinking about the state of nature: the hypothetical fiction that is the driving force behind the social contract. The first half of the book examines novels that tell the story of the move from the state of nature to civil society through a Hobbesian, a Lockean, or a Rousseauian lens, including Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, Malevil by Robert Merle, and Into the Forest by Jean Hegland. The latter half of the book examines Octavia Butler's postapocalyptic Parable series in which a new kind of social contract emerges, one built on the fact of human dependence and vulnerability"--Provided by publisher.
English.
9780739142059 ebook 0739142054 (paper) (paper) 1282713140 9781282713147 9786612713149 6612713143
9786612713149
271314 MIL BC44BB58-E4D7-438D-B9A7-E12E6E7E2F65 OverDrive, Inc. http://www.overdrive.com
2020739934
GBB0A6139 bnb
1900-1999
Apocalypse in literature.
Social contract in literature.
Science fiction, American--History and criticism.
Science fiction--History and criticism.
End of the world in literature.
Regression (Civilization) in literature.
Survival in literature.
Literature and society--History--20th century.
Decadence in literature.
Fin du monde dans la littérature.
Contrat social dans la littérature.
Décadence dans la littérature.
Survie dans la littérature.
Littérature et société--Histoire--20e siècle.
LITERARY CRITICISM--American--General.
Social contract in literature.
Apocalypse in literature.
End of the world in literature.
Literature and society.
Regression (Civilization) in literature.
Science fiction.
Science fiction, American.
Survival in literature.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
History.
PS374.A65
813/.087620938
Postapocalyptic fiction and the social contract : "we'll not go home again" / Claire P. Curtis. - Lanham : Lexington Books, c2010. - 1 online resource (ix, 199 p.)
Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-194) and index.
Last one out, please turn out the lights : On the beach and The road -- "Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" : Hobbes and Lucifer's Hammer, the classic post-apocalyptic text -- "Industrious and rational" : John Locke and Alas, Babylon: the rational life post-apocalypse -- Man is born free; and everywhere is in chains: Rousseau and Malevil: the responsibilities of civil life -- "Maybe effort counted" : John Rawls and thought experiments -- "To take root among the stars" : Octavia Butler's parable of the sower and rethinking the social contract -- "We can choose" : Octavia Butler's parable of the talents and the meaning of security.
"Postapocalyptic Fiction and the Social Contract: We'll Not Go Home Again provides a framework for our fascination with the apocalyptic events. The popular appeal of the end of the world genre is clear in movies, novels, and television shows. Even our political debates over global warming, nuclear threats, and pandemic disease reflect a concern about the possibility of such events. This popular fascination is really a fascination with survival: how can we come out alive? And what would we do next? The end of the world is not about species death, but about beginning again. This book uses postapocalyptic fiction as a terrain for thinking about the state of nature: the hypothetical fiction that is the driving force behind the social contract. The first half of the book examines novels that tell the story of the move from the state of nature to civil society through a Hobbesian, a Lockean, or a Rousseauian lens, including Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, Malevil by Robert Merle, and Into the Forest by Jean Hegland. The latter half of the book examines Octavia Butler's postapocalyptic Parable series in which a new kind of social contract emerges, one built on the fact of human dependence and vulnerability"--Provided by publisher.
English.
9780739142059 ebook 0739142054 (paper) (paper) 1282713140 9781282713147 9786612713149 6612713143
9786612713149
271314 MIL BC44BB58-E4D7-438D-B9A7-E12E6E7E2F65 OverDrive, Inc. http://www.overdrive.com
2020739934
GBB0A6139 bnb
1900-1999
Apocalypse in literature.
Social contract in literature.
Science fiction, American--History and criticism.
Science fiction--History and criticism.
End of the world in literature.
Regression (Civilization) in literature.
Survival in literature.
Literature and society--History--20th century.
Decadence in literature.
Fin du monde dans la littérature.
Contrat social dans la littérature.
Décadence dans la littérature.
Survie dans la littérature.
Littérature et société--Histoire--20e siècle.
LITERARY CRITICISM--American--General.
Social contract in literature.
Apocalypse in literature.
End of the world in literature.
Literature and society.
Regression (Civilization) in literature.
Science fiction.
Science fiction, American.
Survival in literature.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
History.
PS374.A65
813/.087620938