Apocalyptic Transformation: Apocalypse and the Postmodern Imagination

by Elizabeth K. Rosen

Since its inception, the story of the apocalypse has been used as a means by which to understand the world and one's place in it. The appeal of the apocalyptic myth is largely rooted in its ability to make sense of instances of crisis by incorporating those crises into a larger plan for history and an end of time that God has planned. Apocalypse is both an organizing principle to be imposed on an overwhelming, seemingly-disordered universe and a fundamentally moral story which offers hope of a new world where good and evil can be clearly delineated and addressed. But all of the traditional functions and comforts of the apocalyptic myth are challenged when the myth collides with postmodernism. The characteristics that define a work as postmodern ultimately destabilize the traits that make the apocalyptic myth unique. Using the work of Terry Gilliam, Don DeLillo, Kurt Vonnegut, and other writers in the genre, Apocalyptic Transformation examines the collision of the postmodern mode and the apocalyptic myth, explores the process of secularizing this religious story and the reasons for doing so, and asks the question: What happens when an author undermines the grand narrative of the apocalypse?

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Adam Brewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting look at the endemic apocalyptic narrative found across a sizeable spectrum of literature and film. Rosen takes the reader through the basic precepts of the apocalyptic narrative in its, if not original, most widely known form, Revelations from the Christian Bible, and then displays these components at work in its literary tradition so as to make sure the reader is familiar with the precepts. The majority of the book provides examples from contemporary graphic novels such as Watchmen, to Vonnegut's Galapagos, to Gilliam's 12 Monkeys. Rosen's project, as far as I can see, is to expose the apocalyptic narrative at work in postmodern texts and film, and how the postmodern approach/tools of deconstruction, genealogic analyses, and plurality attempt to inform readers of the existence of this narrative, and also transform it into something hopefully, more useful and less harmful to modern society.

Rosen concedes that there are issues with postmodern interpretations of the apocalyptic narrative, in that often times, the postmodern approach seems to simply deconstruct, point at (my words), and heckle at (my words), a narrative strategy that is found in many stories throughout the world, and no less found in many conservative and liberal media narratives. While Rosen acknowledges this claim as being potentially true, she also suggests the possibility that postmodern re-interpretations shift the sight of apocalypse, or "revelation," to the individual, or to the human community, rather than to some "divine" realm beyond death and human understanding and relevance.

That's mostly what I took from it.

[Shima · Rating 5 out of 5]

If someone is looking for discovering the elements of apocalyptic narrative in postmodern fiction, It is advised to read this book, as Rosen enplanes clearly how postmodernism adapts secular apocalypse.

[Bridgitte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rosen does a thorough study of postmodernism's impact on apocalyptic narratives, what she calls neo-apoclayptic narratives in that they are more pessimistic, with no "New Jerusalem" or justice for the good. She applies historical and postmodern concepts of apocalypse to several texts, and her bibliography provides a good amount of difficult to find sources on apocalypse in literature.

[Dessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

#thesis