Blast, Corrupt, Dismantle, Erase

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Ebook in EPUB format. Available for immediate download after we receive your order

DRM:
Watermark

Publication Year:
2014

ISBN-13: 9781554589906

<p> What do literary dystopias reflect about the times? In <i>Blast, Corrupt, Dismantle, Erase, </i>contributors address this amorphous but pervasive genre, using diverse critical methodologies to examine how North America is conveyed or portrayed in a perceived age of crisis, accelerated uncertainty, and political volatility. </p> <p> Drawing from contemporary novels such as Cormac McCarthy’s <i>The Road</i>, Neil Gaiman’s <i>American Gods</i>, and the work of Margaret Atwood and William Gibson (to name a few), this book examines dystopian literature produced by North American authors between the signing of NAFTA (1994) and the tenth anniversary of 9/11 (2011). As the texts illustrate, awareness of and deep concern about perceived vulnerabilities—ends of water, oil, food, capitalism, empires, stable climates, ways of life, non-human species, and entire human civilizations—have become central to public discourseover the same period. </p> <p> By asking questions such as “What are the distinctive qualities of post-NAFTA North American dystopian literature?” and “What does this literature reflect about the tensions and contradictions of the inchoate continental community of North America?” <i>Blast, Corrupt, Dismantle, Erase </i>serves to resituate dystopian writing within a particular geo-social setting and introduce a productive means to understand both North American dystopian writing and its relevant engagements with a restricted, mapped reality. </p>