New Ecological Realisms
Post-Apocalyptic Fiction and Contemporary Theory
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Edinburgh University Press
Published:21st May '21
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Monika Kaup pairs post-apocalyptic novels by Margaret Atwood, José Saramago, Octavia Butler and Cormac McCarthy with new realist theories from Bruno Latour, Humberto Maturana, Francisco Varela, Markus Gabriel, Jean-Luc Marion and Alphonso Lingis. She shows that, just as new realist theory can illuminate post-apocalyptic literature, post-apocalyptic literature can illuminate new theories of the real. Kaup showcases a context-based concept of the real. She argues that new realisms of complex and embedded wholes, actor-networks and ecologies - not the old realisms of isolated parts and things - represent the most promising escape from the impasses of constructivism and positivism.
[...] Kaup’s book is an original and instructive work, so much so as to be useful as an introduction to the intersections between various new realist theories, as well as a skilful demonstration of their applications for literary analysis. -- Antonia Spencer * The comparatist *
I was thrilled by Kaup’s stunning capacity clearly to express complexity as many times as I was baffled by the particular commitments of this tightly knit way of thinking the world, literature, and communication: both say much about me and I hope they also help to steer Kaup’s best readers to this book. It may be just the kind of criticism they need at present. -- Brent Ryan Bellamy * Science Fiction Studies *
Monika Kaup’s encyclopedic new study promises to be invaluable inasmuch as it organizes and reframes an impressive amount of scholarship from the past three decades of ecological thinking. -- Clint Wilson III * MLQ *
[...] a remarkable scholarly work that combines a firm grasp of theory with literary analysis. -- Kamil Rusiłowicz, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin * Roczniki Humanistyczne Vol. 71, No. 11 *
[...] Kaup’s book is a vivid prospect of what the genre may still achieve in the way of bringing to life forms of mind that are, as yet, only keenly felt anticipations of a shared mind to come. -- Mark Payne * American Literary History *
By introducing readers to a variety of provocative approaches to "new realism," and by showing how post-apocalyptic fictions not only enact but also deepen and broaden those theories, Monika Kaup provides an invaluable map of our precarious present that simultaneously offers hope for our collective future. * Evan Gottlieb, Oregon State University *
Presenting a context-dependent realism, Monika Kaup brings together theory and fiction to get real about ecology and the future. Philosophical inquiries and post-apocalyptic writings collide in engaging prose and exciting ideas that open up new horizons for thinking, feeling, and acting after the end of the world. -- Sam Mickey, University of San Francisco
ISBN: 9781474483094
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
352 pages