Academic literature on the topic 'Post-nuclear holocaust'

The present paper discusses Angela Carter’s Heroes and Villains (1969), which parodies both “post-apocalyptic” novels in the Cold War era and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s theory on civilisation. By analysing this novel in comparison, not only to Rousseau’s On the Origin of Inequality (1755), but also to the works of various science fiction writers in the 1950s and 1960s, the paper aims to examine Carter’s reinterpretation of Rousseau in a post-apocalyptic context. As I will argue, Heroes and Villains criticises Rousseau from a feminist point of view to not only represent the dystopian society as full of inequality and violence, but also to show that human beings, having forgotten the nuclear war as their great “sin” in the past, can no longer create a bright future. Observing the underlying motifs in the novel, the paper will reveal how Carter attempts to portray a world where human history has totally ended, or where people cannot make “history” in spite of the fact that they biologically survived the holocaust. From this perspective, I will clarify the way in which Carter reinterprets Rousseau’s notion of “fallen” civilisation in the new context as a critique of the nuclear issues in the late twentieth century.

The author of the article carries out an analysis of texts by two writers who present the Shoah from different perspectives. At the onset he points out two layers of looking at theHolocaust in fantasy writing. The first one results from the said theme filtering through into the genre directly, the second is an intermediary one, namely, through the popular after the Second World War post-apocalyptic narratives where the Shoah is thematised as, for instance, the annihilation of the human race resulting from nuclear conflict or the spread of a deadly virus. The article analyses both mentioned layers using particular examples. Polaroidy z Zagłady [The Shoah/Annihilation Polaroids] by Paweł Paliński is a tale of an individual Shoah. What constitutes the analytical framework here are the titular pictures, which translate into a genre, nowadays rarely practised, called the literary picture. In the course of reading one recognises the triangle of attitudes: victim – witness – torturer. Even if the said triangle has been criticized by historians, it nonetheless decisively appears in the text owing to its layout. Requiem dla lalek [Requiem for Dolls] and Holocaust F written by Cezary Zbierzchowski are, respectively, a short-story collection and a novel, set in the fictitious world of Ramm. It is known from the very beginning that the world is doomed to be annihilated, the harbinger of which is God’s departure. In the short stories other signs of extinction are, among other things, euthanasia, the problem of immigration etc. The plains of annihilation recognized in the course of interpretation: metaphysical, social, and personal, compose a part of philosophical reflection on consequences of catastrophes being one of the spheres of the analysis undertaken. What also arrests our attention, and thereby is reflected upon, is the highly intertextual background of Zbierzchowski’s oeuvre. A prominent place is given to the analysis of the novel’s final chapter entitled Heart of Darkness, both referring to the famous novella written by Joseph Conrad and more than sufficiently justified by the text composition itself. The article’s conclusions both position the texts in relation to other works of Polish fantasy genre and indicate their role as examples of various absorption by popular culture (here fantasy) of the Shoah-related issues.

O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down into the pit. -- Psalms 30:3 Eulogies are written upon the cessation of life, generally celebrating the duration of life. Part of the purpose of the eulogy is to create immortality through the seemingly imperishable nature of ink and story -- words that will last beyond the last memory of the deceased. What a paradox it is, then, to find such words on the Internet. This medium is deemed transitory and ephemeral for its frustrating propensity of sites which exist one moment then disappear the next. Yet the Net contains numerous eulogy and memorial sites, recounting the existence of famous and ordinary people alike, privileging neither. It is perhaps this attraction of equality and, furthermore, the appeal of a larger audience than the crowd that congregates in a church at funerals, that draws the bereaved to immortalise their beloved through this medium. A quick tour of the Internet reveals that scribblings about the dead abound, written by a range of people -- from the friends and family of the deceased to the obsessed fans of celebrities, from the attached owners of pooches to official government representations and finally to the adversaries of the dead. Celebrities seem to receive a great deal of attention in death as well as in life. Interestingly though, their representations in death tend to be altered, with writers ceasing their interest in dirt and mud slinging to recreating the deceased as paragons of good deeds and charm. For instance, J.F.K.'s (John F. Kennedy) sometimes dubious political dealings with Cuba and his near declaration of nuclear war are forgotten in his official eulogy. America's dead royalty receive the same political accolades, which can be found in a memorial site for Robert F. Kennedy, similarly assassinated, and more recently, John F. Kennedy Jnr, whose death has encouraged much speculation and an abundance of conspiracy theories. But of course the most famous media backflip over a royal celebrity would have to be that of Princess Diana. Within a week, she had gone from being the British royal hussy to the British royal honey. People lined the streets to watch the funeral procession and her eulogy given by Earl Charles Spencer painted a reformed picture of a compassionate woman wronged by the media. And it is this image that you will find on the Internet. Of course not all royals deserve this level of cynicism. For instance, the works of King Hussein of Jordan can be viewed complete with background Led Zeppelin music or more formally. Lesser royal and more film star, Grace Kelly, has a number of Websites dedicated to her by avid fans. Though none knew her personally, Denny, Tasha and Vivien all provide memorials filled with pieces of film memorabilia and stories from her life. Like the Audrey Hepburn pages (http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4084/biography.html; http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4084/article1.html) photos of snippets of life can be downloaded onto your PC as wallpaper. These types of Websites of dead celebrities, created by crazed fans rather than family and personal friends, are a common feature of the Internet. This medium seems to provide a space in which these people can express their sorrow at the celebrity's death and build an image of how they knew the person. For instance, Kurt Cobain's death has generated a memorial page where fans can add their comments about the lead singer of Nivana. The page's Webmaster screens comments and culls the negative criticism that may be potentially generated by a drug-ridden life and eventual suicide. The more recent death of a singer, Michael Hutchence, has also conjured up memorial sites. Kylie's personal tribute seems to be the largest of these, yet again she is merely a fan of Hutchence whose closest contact with him was to catch a cup from him as an audience member at a concert. Sometimes the death of a person results in martyrdom and further impetus for social causes and reforms. The eulogy can act as a pivotal point in this social action, spurring on followers to perpetuate the movement created by the deceased. Perhaps one of the largest and oldest eulogies still used by believers of Christianity is of Jesus of Nazareth. His life and teachings are recorded in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which can be accessed in a myriad of Websites (http://www.bible.com; http://www.bible.net; http://www.jesus.com; http://www.gospel.com). A more recent plight such as the American civil rights movement has seen two of its leaders, Dr Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, assassinated for their work. Their eulogies, which are now available for the broader audience (http://www.dsc.edu/mlk.htm; http://home.earthlink.net/~ccblack/shabazz/eulogy.html) were highly rhetorical and influential in the continuation of this type of political reform and are still adopted today. Some more local (Australian) examples of memorial sites and eulogies of Australian civil rights activists can be found, for example, for the first Aboriginal senator, Neville Bonner (http://www.abc.net.au/news/features/obits/bonner/default.htm), and poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal. However, these tend to have smaller rhetorical strength. Lesser known victims of politics are also paid homage on the Internet. Simon Wiesenthal, a survivor of the holocaust, dedicated his life to hunting the perpetrators of Nazi war crimes. The Website of his centre commemorates his work but interestingly also acknowledges the victims of these atrocities: "This portion of the Wiesenthal site is dedicated to the children of the Holocaust. Each day, we'll revisit a special child's life as a tribute to their unique person." Less tasteful is the eulogy of Matthew Shepherd who was the victim of a gay bashing in the U.S. This eulogy occurs in the godhatesfags Website and involves an image of him burning in hell, accompanied by screams of distress and a clock to count his days in hell. The people who wrote this eulogy displayed highly offensive banners outside his funeral and, unable to present a eulogy at his funeral, chose to commemorate his "sordid" life on the Internet. This is a rare example of a eulogy that is used politically without presenting a positive image of the deceased. Thus not merely famous people's life are remembered on the Internet. Some families choose to pay tribute to their beloved on the Web, producing eulogies and memorials for anyone who will read them. For example, Louise's family wrote a eulogy upon her death that is published on the Web. A more commercial venture at http://www.funeral.net/death_notices.htm allows users to post obituaries of deceased to potentially inform the world of their death. And if you wish to write your own eulogy/memorial/obituary, the death clock site allows you to predict the day and hour of your death providing you with enough time to edit out those closet skeletons from your life story. Pets are not to be forgotten either. Rainbows Bridge, the name of both the Website and the place where all good dogs and cats go, abounds in cutsie euphemisms. This Webpage comforts the bereaved in the knowledge that their pooches and pussies are also not forgotten when they turn their little paws up. This article has been a short tour of the type of material on the deceased that can be found on the Internet. This medium potentially provides an accessible and equal opportunity for those left behind to discuss and expound the deceased's life and works. If there is life after death then perhaps it is to be found in cyberspace -- or at least as long as the bills are paid and the site is maintained. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Felicity Meakins. "De Mortuis Bonum: An Internet Eulogy Tour." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.8 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/eulogy.php>. Chicago style: Felicity Meakins, "De Mortuis Bonum: An Internet Eulogy Tour," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 8 (1999), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/eulogy.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Felicity Meakins. (1999) De mortuis bonum: an Internet eulogy tour. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(8). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/eulogy.php> ([your date of access]).

In this chapter, Mariko Hori Tanaka focuses on how Beckett responds to the imagined nuclear winter inherent in the global competition in the production of nuclear bombs and energy during the Cold War years. Many of his post-war plays including Endgame and Happy Days are clearly set in a post-apocalyptic world, where the only human survivors are the onstage characters. The earth uninhabited and the landscape of ruins with the last remaining human beings barely alive are suggested in many of Beckett’s works. Our post-holocaust world is filled with repeated disasters such as wars, conflicts, and natural disasters, so that we endlessly feel a sense of apocalypse. Beckett’s sense of men and women living in worsening conditions towards the unseen ending is the global anxiety shared in the late twentieth to the twenty-first century. Beckett’s imagination of dead victims ruined and suffering in some traumatic event (which he never clarifies) reminds us, the audience and the readers, of those who suffered and died in apocalyptic disasters. This chapter thus deals with the recent cultural traumas globally shared in our age.