Postapocalyptic Fiction and the Social Contract

We'll Not Go Home Again

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Science Fiction, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Politics, History & Theory
Cover of the book Postapocalyptic Fiction and the Social Contract by Claire P. Curtis, Lexington Books
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Claire P. Curtis ISBN: 9780739142059
Publisher: Lexington Books Publication: July 17, 2010
Imprint: Lexington Books Language: English
Author: Claire P. Curtis
ISBN: 9780739142059
Publisher: Lexington Books
Publication: July 17, 2010
Imprint: Lexington Books
Language: English

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.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

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.

More books from Lexington Books

Cover of the book HBO's Treme and Post-Katrina Catharsis by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book Ukraine and Russian Neo-Imperialism by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book Responsibility, Complexity, and Abortion by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book The Social Life of Tibetan Biography by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book Creation and Contingency in Early Patristic Thought by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book The Eroticization of Distance by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book Communication Centers by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book Radical Psychology by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book Song and Social Change in Latin America by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book Missionary Impositions by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book China Joins Global Governance by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book Understanding Reality by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book Charles Corm by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book The Dynamics of Change in Modern World Politics by Claire P. Curtis
Cover of the book Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes by Claire P. Curtis
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy