Gorodnick, Kaitlyn A RISING FROM THE ASHES: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF APOCALYPSE IN CONTEMPORARY ENVIRONMETNAL LITERATURE. 2024. Radford University, Thesis. Radford University Scholars' Repository.
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Abstract
Exploring the role environmental apocalypse has historically played in contemporary American Environmental Literature, my thesis discusses the impact of apocalyptic rhetoric in past texts and question if it remains equally impactful moving into the twenty-first century. I consider the work of ecocritics such as Greg Garrard, Lawrence Buell, and David Higgins, amongst many others, who all discuss the role apocalypse has played in texts that show an awareness of global climate change. While many of these scholars discuss the role of apocalypse in past texts, my work aims to extend their arguments with newer novels and newer climate theories, such as the Anthropocene and Capitalocene, ultimately arguing against the use of apocalyptic rhetoric in contemporary texts in the twenty-first century. In the following chapters, I analyze the use and consequences of environmental apocalypse in Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, and White Noise by Don DeLillo. Additionally, I present two texts that I argue offer an alternative to apocalypse, The Overstory by Richard Powers and Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, both of which offer messages of hope, community, and reciprocity in place of apocalyptic thinking. I begin by establishing a tradition of environmental apocalypse through the use of postmodernism, satire, and inklings of hope with Silent Spring and Cat’s Cradle. I then discuss the roles humanity and capitalism have played in environmental apocalypse through readings of Parable of the Sower and White Noise. Finally, I discuss some of the flaws of apocalypse and propose some alternatives that are demonstrated in both Braiding Sweetgrass and The Overstory, highlighting that readers must believe there is a future before they can save it.
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PE English |
| Divisions: | Radford University > College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences > Department of English |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Jun 2024 05:03 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Jun 2024 05:03 |
| URI: | http://wagner.radford.edu/id/eprint/1114 |
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