Postapocalyptic Fantasies in Antebellum American Literature
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Postapocalyptic Fantasies in Antebellum American Literature

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eBook - PDF

Postapocalyptic Fantasies in Antebellum American Literature

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About This Book

Even before the Civil War, American writers were imagining life after a massive global catastrophe. For many, the blank slate of the American continent was instead a wreckage-strewn wasteland, a new world in ruins. Bringing together epic and lyric poems, fictional tales, travel narratives, and scientific texts, Postapocalyptic Fantasies in Antebellum American Literature reveals that US authors who enthusiastically celebrated the myths of primeval wilderness and virgin land also frequently resorted to speculations about the annihilation of civilizations, past and future. By examining such postapocalyptic fantasies, this study recovers an antebellum rhetoric untethered to claims for historical exceptionalism - a patriotic rhetoric that celebrates America while denying the United States a unique position outside of world history. As the scientific field of natural history produced new theories regarding biological extinction, geological transformation, and environmental collapse, American writers responded with wild visions of the ancient past and the distant future.

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Yes, you can access Postapocalyptic Fantasies in Antebellum American Literature by John Hay in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literatura & Crítica literaria norteamericana. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
2017
ISBN
9781108307826
Topic
Literatura
Subtopic
Crítica literaria norteamericana

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half-title page
  3. Series page
  4. Title page
  5. Copyright page
  6. Contents
  7. List of Illustrations
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Introduction A New World in Ruins
  10. Chapter 1 The American Noah
  11. Chapter 2 Narratives of Extinction and the Last Man
  12. Chapter 3 The Magnificent Mound Builders
  13. Chapter 4 History Unearthed
  14. Chapter 5 Contact at Ktaadn
  15. Conclusion: The Revolutionary Ruins of the New West
  16. Postapocalyptic Postscript
  17. Frequently Cited Works
  18. Index