The End of The World

Maria Manuel Lisboa

Description

Our fear of the world ending, like our fear of the dark, is ancient, deep-seated and perennial. It crosses boundaries of space and time, recurs in all human communities and finds expression in every aspect of cultural production – from pre-historic cave paintings to high-tech computer games.

This book examines historical and imaginary scenarios of Apocalypse, the depiction of its likely triggers, and imagined landscapesin the aftermath of global destruction. Its discussion moves effortlessly from classic novels including Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, to blockbuster films such as Blade Runner, Armageddon and The Terminator. The author also takes into account religious doctrine, scientific research and the visual arts to create a penetrating, multi-disciplinary study that provides profound insight into one of Western culture’s darkest and most enduring preoccupations.

Sujets

• Nineteen Eighty-Four
• Literature
• Film studies
• Brave New World
• Cultural Studies
• Margaret Atwood
• Apocalypse
• Douglas Adams
• John Wyndham
• 1984
• George Orwell
• Aldous Huxley

Informations

• Publié par: Open Book Publishers
• Date de parution: 19 octobre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9781906924614
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

THE END OF THE WORLD
Maria Manuel Lisboa is Professor of Portuguese Literature and Culture at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. She specialises in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Portuguese and Brazilian literature, focusing on gender and national identity. She has written four monographs, including one on the renowned Portuguese artist Paula Rego. Maria Manuel Lisboa received the 2008 Prémio do Grémio Literário .
The End of the World: Apocalypse and its Aftermath in Western Culture
Maria Manuel Lisboa
Open Book Publishers CIC Ltd., 40 Devonshire Road, Cambridge, CB1 2BL, United Kingdom http://www.openbookpublishers.com

© 2011 Maria Manuel Lisboa
Some rights are reserved. This book is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. This license allows for copying any part of the work for personal and non-commercial use, providing author attribution is clearly stated. Details of allowances and restrictions are available at:
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As with all Open Book Publishers titles, digital material and resources associated with this volume are available from our website:
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ISBN Hardback: 978-1-906924-51-5 ISBN Paperback: 978-1-906924-50-8 ISBN Digital (pdf): 978-1-906924-52-2
Cover image: David Fox, New Zealand, flooded coastal forest (2010) Typesetting by www.bookgenie.in
All paper used by Open Book Publishers is SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative), and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) Certified.
 
Printed in the United Kingdom and United States by Lightning Source for Open Book Publishers
This book is dedicated to our planet, with best wishes for many happy returns. In memory of my mother-in-law, Winifred Brick and my uncle, Ilídio Lisboa.
This World is not Conclusion.
A Species stands beyond—
Invisible, as Music—
But positive, as Sound—
It beckons, and it baffles—
Philosophy—don’t know—
And through a Riddle, at the last—
Sagacity, must go—
To guess it, puzzles scholars—
To gain it, Men have borne
Contempt of Generations
And Crucifixion […].
Emily Dickinson
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young girls gone?
Taken husbands every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Covered with flowers every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?
Pete Seeger
Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Prologue
1. Apocalypse Now and Again
2. The World Gone M.A.D.
3. And Then There Was Nothing: Is the End Ever Really the End?
4. Falling Out with Hal and Hester
5. Dying of Happiness: Utopia at the End of this World
Afterword: Libera Me, Domine, De Vita Æterna
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations

Figure 1 . Hieronymus Bosch The Last Judgement , triptych fragment (1506-1508) Oil on panel Munich: Altepinakothek
Figure 2 . William Blake Death on a Pale Horse (c. 1800) Drawing Cambridge: The Fitzwilliam Museum © Fitzwilliam Museum
Figure 3 . René Magritte L’invention collective ( Collective Invention ) (1935) Oil on canvas Private collection © Photothèque R. Magritte – ADAGP, Paris 2011
Figure 4 . William Blake Nebuchadnezzar (c. 1795) London: Tate Colour monotype print with additions in ink and watercolour
Figure 5 . René Magritte Les merveilles de la nature ( The Wonders of Nature ) (1953) Oil on canvas Chicago: Museum of Contemporary art © Photothèque R. Magritte – ADAGP, Paris 2011
Figure 6 . Peter Paul Rubens Adam and Eve in Paradise (1599) Oil on panel Antwerp: Rubenshuis
Figure 7 . John Guillermin King Kong (1976). Paramount Film Studios © mptvimages.com
Figure 8 . John Guillermin King Kong (1976). Paramount Film Studios
Figure 9 . John Martin The Last Man (1849) Oil on canvas The Board of Trustees of National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Liverpool: Walker Art Gallery
Figure 10 . Gustave Doré Adam and Eve Driven Out of Eden (1865) Engraving Public domain
Figure 11 . Albrecht Dürer The Four of Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1511) Woodcut The William M. Ladd Collection Minneapolis: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Figure 12 . Reuven Dafni Corpses in a Mass Grave (29 April 1945) Germany: Bergen Belsen © Yad Vashem, Archival Signature: 2545
Figure 13 . Marc Chagall, Apocalypse in Lilac, Capriccio (1945) London: The Ben Uri Jewish Museum of Art
Figure 14 . Anselm Kiefer (German, b. 1945) Lot’s Wife (1989) Oil paint, ash, stucco, chalk, linseed oil, polymer emulsion, salt and applied elements (e.g., copper heating coil), on canvas, attached to lead foil, on plywood panels; 350 x 410 cm Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1990.8.a
Figure 15 . Caspar David Friedrich Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818) Oil on canvas Hamburg: Kunsthalle
Figure 16 . Peter Paul Rubens The Virgin as the Woman of the Apocalypse (c. 1623-24) Oil on panel Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum
Figure 17 . Ingmar Bergman The Seventh Seal (1957) AB Svensk Filmindustri. Det sjunde inseglet/The Seventh Seal (c)1957 Stockholm: AB Svensk Filmindustri Still photographer: Louis Huch
Figure 18 . Ingmar Bergman The Seventh Seal (1957) AB Svensk Filmindustri. Det sjunde inseglet/The Seventh Seal (c)1957 Stockholm: AB Svensk Filmindustri Still photographer: Louis Huch
Figure 19 . René Magritte La condition humaine ( The human condition ) (1933) Oil on canvas Gift of the Collectors Committee Washington: National Gallery of Art © Photothèque R. Magritte – ADAGP, Paris 2011
Figure 20 . Thomas More A Map of Utopia (1516) Woodcut Cambridge: St. John’s College
Figure 21 . Michelangelo Buonarroti Christ as Judge of the World (1475-1564) Rome: Sistine Chapel, Vatican
Figure 22 . El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos) (1541-1614) The Opening of the Fifth Seal (or The Fifth Seal of the Apocalypse or The Vision of Saint John ) (1608-14) Oil on canvas (top truncated) New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1956 © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Figure 23 . John Martin The Great Day of His Wrath (1851-53) London: Tate Oil on canvas
Figure 24 . Michelangelo Buonarroti The Flood , right-hand panel (1475-1564) Rome: Sistine Chapel, Vatican
Acknowledgements

I am indebted to many people who helped, encouraged and supported me, did things for me, and said ‘there, there...’ at times when the end of the world appeared to be an attractive option, relatively speaking.
Bernard McGuirk, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and Peter Evans generously agreed to offer a critical reading of this book.
Coral Neale provided me with valuable examples of apocalypse in films, books and the visual arts.
David Fox, the ideal companion on holidays I will never take, agreed to allow me to reproduce one of his remarkable photographs for the cover, provided the print, and, following a logic that escapes me, thanked me for it.
Susan Mansfield and Karen Weber saved me from unhelpful demons and from my own never-failing incompetence in all matters practical and commonsensical. Robert Hinde proofread the manuscript.
Chris Woodhouse and Alex Lucini, Computer Officers at St. John’s College, miraculously never attempted to strangle me, not even once.
Sue O’Reilly and Hykel Hosni suggested some valuable reading which helped me consolidate my thoughts.
Rory O’Bryen let me benefit from his expertise on blondes, monkeys and digital images.
David Lowe and Sonia Morillo Garcia I thank for absolutely everything. I am also ever grateful to Colin Clarkson at Cambridge University Library, who goes where my legs cannot.
My students suggested I have a look at truly ghastly examples of endof-the-world books they had read as teenagers. Margaret Clark did the same with regard to books with which she had traumatized her children over the years.
Helen Coutts and Helen Lima de Sousa helped me with tracking down the images.
Victoria Best and Robert Evans always tell me affectionately not to be silly whenever I need to hear it, and make me howl with laughter even when life gets dark.
Chris Dobson encourages me r