Ecology without Us: Ecological Succession and History in Earth Abides. Issue 3 (January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Polefrone, Phillip R.
• Is Part Of: Extrapolation. Volume 59:Issue 3(2018)
• Page Start: 255
• Page End: 280
• Publication Date: 2018-01
• Subjects: Science fiction -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Science fiction -- Bibliography -- Periodicals; Science fiction; Bibliography; Criticism, interpretation, etc; Periodicals; 809.38762
• DOI: 10.3828/extr.2018.16
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0014-5483

Abstract

Abstract : George R. Stewart's Earth Abides (1949) is a classic American post-apocalypse novel, but it is also a thought experiment examining humanity's changing role on Earth that closely reflects the shift from a deterministic paradigm of ecological succession to one emphasizing contingency and human impact. Enmeshed in a community of scientists involved in the debate, Stewart creates a theory of environmentally embedded history in which human agency is understood as a partnership with the natural environment. By attending to Stewart's network of scientific influences, this article seeks to transcend the "antagonistic wilderness" reading of post-apocalyptic ecologies.