Fiction of Fear, Fictions of Hope – Transformations of Selected Categories of Catastrophic and Post-Apocalyptic Fictions at the Turn of the 20th and 21st Centuries

Abstract

The motifs of catastrophe, end and apocalypse constitute the main construction points of this analysis and direct research attention to their use in fantastic works, with particular emphasis on its literary relationship with the works of the late 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. To illustrate the changes that these motifs undergo, I will refer to concepts such as: fantasy, post-apocalyptic fantasy, catastrophism, cosy catastrophe, speculative fiction, or dark ecology and their literary and film accomplishments. The main way of thinking of the dissertation is to take into account the differences between catastrophic and post-apocalyptic creativity and to indicate the implications between these styles and their textual narratives. After the analysis and interpretation of the collected material, it can be noticed that the conventions characteristic of the turn of the 20th and 21st century, being an example of "blurred species" within science fiction, refer to the plot of the current discourses in the field of the new humanities, affirmative humanities or humanities involved in fundamental issues for the humanities themselves, such as human, life, humanity, non-human.