You
can find the full script for Podcast 29 at
http://www.pataphysics.net.au/mysf_project/mysf_scripts/index.html
| Background to the use of the definitions |
| Start of a definition of 'Post-Apocalyptic' from Wikipedia |
| Post-holocaust quotes from Brave New Words |
| Survival, from Science Fiction Quotations |
| Resource list |
Background to the use of the definitions
As noted in the section looking at the background to the focus class on Post-Apocalyptic texts in relation to Kelleher's Taronga (1986), a few quotations and quotes were added to the class VLE.
These brief passages were used as discussion starters, for the students to discuss what they thought of the definitions and quotes and to build up the idea that Post-Apocalyptic texts were of many kinds, for many purposes, as followed in the focus class exercises.
In
Genre: POST-APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE,
by RJ Grady
The unifying theme of all post-apocalyptic settings is
the lawlessness and isolation of a barbaric time, perhaps mirroring our
inner dissatisfaction with the settled world of today. The genre concerns
the struggle of small groups, even handfuls of individuals. Something has
happened to the world, something terrible, whether it be an alien radiation
that causes the dead to rise from their graves, nuclear war, or a breakdown
in civilization caused by a failure of vital infrastructure.
Character competence tends to be high. The heroes of
these stories tend to be gritty, and if they aren't military figures, are at
least capable of surviving in a rough world through their resources. The
morality varies, but tends to devolve the idea that tyranny is the same
moral state as anarchy, and that civilization is preferable to both, but
easily subverted. Thus, free-thinking, cooperation, toughness, and a grim
practicality are the virtues of this genre.
One recurring theme is the idea of the State of
Apocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction
that is concerned with the end of civilization either through nuclear war,
plague, or some other general disaster. Post-apocalyptic fiction is set in a
world or civilization after such a disaster. The time frame may be
immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of
survivors, or considerably later, often including the theme that the
existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten (or
mythologized). Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in an agrarian,
non-technological future world, or a world where only scattered elements of
technology remain. There is a considerable degree of blurring between this
form of science fiction and that which deals with
false utopias or dystopic
societies.
The common practice has been to depict a post-holocaust world as a kind of damaged Eden, where a few survivors scavenge a subsistence living from the wreck of civilisation. (Disch, 1986)
Obviously the world had been ruined in some sort of catastrophe, and, in fact, the original idea was that this was going to be an After-the-Bomb story, showing how the man and his son survived in a Post-Holocaust world. (Dozois, 2001).
Survival, from Science Fiction Quotations
Survival of the race is the first duty of every Ethical man and woman. (Merril, 1953).
We are barbarians. With survival the only moral touchstone, we show what we are. We kill in order to live. Our final decency is the ability to see what we are and exercise some rational control over it. The world's survivors will be the ruthless, not the holy meek. (Turner, 1987).
Dozois, G. (2001). In Swanwock, M. Being Gardener Dozois, p144. In Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, edited by Jeff Prucher. Oxford: OUP.
Disch, T. (1986). 'Road to Heaven' in On SF (2005) 208. In Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, edited by Jeff Prucher. Oxford: OUP.
Grady, RJ (2004). 'In Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Nightmare'. In rpg.net.
Retrieved 12 November, 2009 from
http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/ingenre27jan04.html
Kelleher, V. (1986). Taronga. Scoresby, Victoria: Penguin Group Australia. Paperback 9780140326314
Merril, J. (1953). 'Survival Ship'. In In Science Fiction Quotations: From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits. Edited by Gary Westfahl. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press.
NSWDET (2006). A classroom practice guide: Quality teaching in ACT Schools. Copyright NSW Department of Education and Training. Canberra: Publishing Services for the ACT Department of Education and Training.
NSWDET (2006a). An assessment practice guide: Quality teaching in ACT Schools. Copyright NSW Department of Education and Training. Canberra: Publishing Services for the ACT Department of Education and Training.
Turner, G. (1987). 'Drowning Towers'. In Science Fiction Quotations: From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits. Edited by Gary Westfahl. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press.
Wikipedia (2009). 'Post-Apocalyptic'. Wikipedia. Retrieved 12 November, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-apocalyptic
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