Beginning after the End

Katrin Isabel Schmitt

Beginning after the End. Trauma and Narrative in Twenty-First Century North American Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

ISBN 978-3-98940-070-2, 202 S., kt., € 29,50 (2025)

ISBN 978-3-98940-071-9, 202 S., € 25,00 (E-Book/pdf, 2025)

(CAT - Cultures in America in Transition, Bd. 13)

erscheint voraussichtlich 05.05.2025

This book examines contemporary North American post-apocalyptic novels, proposing that post-apocalyptic literature is a form of trauma literature. The study identifies characteristic elements of the post-apocalyptic genre, focusing particularly on themes of trauma and narrative. The corpus includes Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Colson Whitehead’s Zone One, Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars, Nick Cole’s The Old Man and the Wasteland, Edan Lepucki’s California, and Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven. The author develops a three-phase model of the post-apocalypse characterized by 1. Catastrophe; 2. Destruction; and 3. New Beginnings. The first phase examines the apocalyptic catastrophe as the catalyst for all-encompassing change. The second phase explores the post-apocalyptic world as a liminal space of radical transformation. The third phase analyzes depictions of potential new beginnings, where political, societal, and bioethical questions and values are renegotiated. Using this model, the study demonstrates that the phases of the post-apocalypse are closely intertwined with negotiations of trauma. The first phase represents a traumatic upheaval, the second phase portrays traumatized conditions, and the third phase presents potentially post-traumatic new beginnings. In summary, this book provides a genre study that systematically establishes and analyzes the characteristics and variations in contemporary North American post-apocalyptic literature.

Buchvorschau / Inhaltsverzeichnis (pdf)