Postapocalyptic Fiction and the Social Contract: We'll Not Go Home Again

211 Pages·2010·0.77 MB·English

by  Claire P. Curtis

Postapocalyptic Fiction
and the Social Contract

Postapocalyptic Fiction
and the Social Contract
“We’ll Not Go Home Again”
Claire P. Curtis
Lexington Books
A division of
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham (cid:129) Boulder (cid:129) New York (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK
Published by Lexington Books
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Copyright © 2010 by Lexington Books
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Curtis, Claire P., 1965-
Postapocalyptic fiction and the social contract : “we’ll not go home again” / Claire P.
Curtis.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7391-4203-5 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-4205-9
(electronic)
1. Apocalypse in literature. 2. Science fiction, American—History and criticism.
3. Science fiction—History and criticism. 4. End of the world in literature.
5. Regression (Civilization) in literature. 6. Survival in literature. 7. Literature and
society—History—20th century. I. Title.
PS374.A65C87 2010
813'.087620938—dc22
2010016279
(cid:2) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
For Nina and Adam

(cid:2)
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction Thinking the End of the World 1
Chapter 1 Last One Out, Please Turn Out the Lights 17
On the Beach and The Road
Chapter 2 “ . . . solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” 43
Hobbes and Lucifer’s Hammer, the Classic
Postapocalyptic Text
Chapter 3 “Industrious and Rational” 67
John Locke and Alas, Babylon: The Rational
Life Postapocalypse
Chapter 4 “Man is born free; and everywhere is in chains” 93
Rousseau and Malevil: The Responsibilities of
Civil Life
Chapter 5 “Maybe Effort Counted” 117
John Rawls and Thought Experiments
Chapter 6 “To take root among the stars” 135
Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and
Rethinking the Social Contract
vii
viii (cid:2) Contents
Chapter 7 “We can choose” 161
Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Talents and the
Meaning of Security
Epilogue 187
Bibliography 191
Index 195
About the Author 199
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Acknowledgments
The first draft of this book was written while on sabbatical from the College of
Charleston. I received further grant support through the College to help with
completing the manuscript. I thank the Department of Political Science and
the College of Charleston for supporting my research. I received many help-
ful comments from the initial reader’s review from Lexington Books. This
book would never have come into being were it not for the dedication of my
fellow writing group members, Alison Piepmeier and Conseula Francis. Their
willingness to read multiple drafts of each chapter helped to focus my argu-
ment and made this project come to life. We have had many conversations
about who is willing to head out on the road ahead of impending disaster and
who is ready to walk towards the tidal wave. Those conversations sustained
a project that at times seemed unwieldy. Mary Glenn Keadle worked tire-
lessly to assist in final proofing, and indexing. Both Erin Walpole and Alden
Perkins of Lexington answered numerous emails assiduously, patiently, and
with good humor. My husband, Larry Krasnoff, read many of these chapters,
despite his own suspicions of the genre and his unwillingness to pack spices.
Writing is a largely solitary task, and it requires a mental and physical space
that depends on the willing work of others. I could not have written this
book without a family ready to give me space to work, meals to eat, inspiring
conversation and a willingness to ponder the what if questions.
ix