THE POST-APOCALYPTIC NOVEL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Modernity beyond Salvage HEATHER J. HICKS The Post-Apocalyptic Novel in the Twenty-First Century This page intentionally left blank The Post-Apocalyptic Novel in the Twenty-First Century Modernity beyond Salvage Heather J. Hicks Palgrave macmillan THE POST-APOCALYPTIC NOVEL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Copyright © Heather J. Hicks 2016 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978-1-137-55366-9 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission. In accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 2016 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of Nature America, Inc., One New York Plaza, Suite 4500, New York, NY 10004-1562. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. ISBN 978-1-349-71649-4 E-PDF ISBN: 978–1–137–54584–8 DOI: 10.1057/9781137545848 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Hicks, Heather J. Title: The post-apocalyptic novel in the twenty-first century : modernity beyond salvage / Heather J. Hicks. Description: New York : Palgrave Macmillan, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015030194 | Subjects: LCSH: American fiction—21st century—History and criticism. | Apocalypse in literature. | End of the world in literature. | BISAC: LITERARY CRITICISM / General. | LITERARY CRITICISM / American / General. | LITERARY CRITICISM / European / General. Classification: LCC PS374.A65 H53 2016 | DDC 813/.60935—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015030194 A catalogue record for the book is available from the British Library. For Steve This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Modernity beyond Salvage 1 1 The Mother of All Apocalypses in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake 27 2 “This Time Round”: David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas and the Apocalyptic Problem of Historicism 55 3 Friday at the End of the World: Apocalyptic Change and the Legacy of Robinson Crusoe in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods 77 4 “Stop! Can You Hear the Eagle Roar?”: Zombie Kitsch and the Apocalyptic Sublime in Colson Whitehead’s Zone One 105 5 “The Raw Materials”: Petromodernity, Retromodernity, and the Bildungsroman in Paolo Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker 137 Conclusion 163 Notes 173 Works Cited 189 Index 201 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments I have benefited from the assistance of many generous people while writ- ing this book. I am grateful to Villanova University for the support pro- vided by Summer Research Fellowships in 2009 and 2013 and a publication subvention in 2015. Many friends and colleagues provided support, ideas, lively conversation, and commentary on chapters, includ- ing Michael Berthold, Sam Cohen, Luisa Cywinski, Alice Dailey, Joe Drury, Amy Elias, Jed Esty, Travis Foster, Andrea Goulet, Kamran Javadizadeh, Joseph Lennon, Jean Lutes, Megan Quigley, Evan Radcliffe, Lisa Sewell, and Lauren Shohet. I am also grateful to the undergraduate and graduate students who have shared their exciting readings of post- apocalyptic fiction in my seminars. I have been especially lucky to have the help of a number of graduate research assistants, including Sally Groomes, Mary Harris, Caroline Lees, and Samantha Vitale. I received helpful feedback on chapter four from American Literature, a graduate student reading group in the English department of the University of Pennsylvania, and gained much insight from participating in a seminar on apocalyptic temporality at the 2015 Post-45 Conference, which also took place at the University of Pennsylvania. The transformation of my manuscript into a book has been made a genuinely enjoyable experience because of the responsiveness and flexibil- ity of my editors at Palgrave Macmillan, Brigitte Shull and Ryan Jenkins. Thanks, most importantly, are due to my beloved husband, Steve, and son, Maxwell. They have gamely allowed me time to work on this book, while never letting me lose perspective on why such projects matter. An earlier version of “‘This Time Round’: David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas and the Apocalyptic Problem of Historicism” was originally published in Postmodern Culture 20:3 (2011) and is reprinted with permission of Johns Hopkins University Press.