Fin-de-Siècle Fictions, 1890s/1990s: Apocalypse, Technoscience, Empire

265 Pages·2014·1.17 MB·English

by  Aris Mousoutzanis (auth.)

Fin-de-Siècle Fictions, 1890s/1990s
Also by Aris Mousoutzanis
THE SCIENCE FICTION HANDBOOK (co-edited with Nick Hubble, 2013)
CYBERCULTURES: Mediations of Community, Culture, Politics
(co-edited with Harris Breslow, 2012)
NEW MEDIA AND THE POLITICS OF ONLINE COMMUNITIES
(co-edited with Daniel Riha, 2010)
Fin-de-Siècle
Fictions,
1890s/1990s
Apocalypse, Technoscience, Empire
Aris Mousoutzanis
Lecturer in Film and Screen Studies, University of Brighton, UK
© Aris Mousoutzanis 2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-26365-0
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may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2014 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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ISBN 978-1-349-44267-6 ISBN 978-1-137-43014-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137430144
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In memory of my father Spyros
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Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Apocalypse, technoscience, empire 1
Apocalypse: modernity, fin de siècle, postmodernism 19
Technoscience and empire 30
Part I Technoscience
1 When Time Shall Be No More: Entropy,
Degeneration, History 47
Energy watersheds and phase changes:
Jeremy Rifkin/Henry Adams 51
The death of the sun 59
Degeneration, entropy and technocultural shock 71
‘After the end’: entropy, radioactivity, information 82
2 The Eternal Return of Chaos 91
Period 1: the history of chaos and the chaos of history 96
Bifurcation 1: two branches, two apocalypses 109
Period 2: information overload 118
Bifurcation 2: two simulacra 128
Period 3: back to the end – chaos theory and empire 137
Part II Empire
3 Dusk of the Nations: Century’s End and Imperial Crisis 147
‘Invisible bacteria’: technoscience and biopower 147
‘Empire over matter’: apocalypse and reverse colonisation 154
‘Cyber-trauma’: alien abduction and technocultural shock 162
‘The ultimate cybernetic disease’: AIDS, bodies, machines 172
4 Terminal Bodies: New Men and Women for the ’00s 185
‘From outer space to inner space’: eugenics and biogenetics 185
‘Lilith’s children’: mothering the future 206
Conclusion: Post-Millennial Apocalypse 222
Bibliography 228
Index 252
vii
List of Illustrations
2.1 Lorenz attractor (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Lorenz_attractor2.svg) p. 99 99
2.2 Bifurcation diagram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:LogisticMap_BifurcationDiagram.png) p. 100 101
2.3 Mandelbrot fractal (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Mandel_zoom_03_to_04.png) p. 106 106
2.4 Cantor dust (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Generalized_cantor_set.png) p. 107 108
2.5 Koch curve (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Von_Kochs_sn%C3%B6flinga_stor.jpg) p. 116 117
viii
Acknowledgments
First of all, I need to thank the following people at Palgrave Macmillan
for their help and patience during the writing of this book: Sophie
Ainscough, Benjamin Doyle, Paula Kennedy and Christine Ranft.
I would also like to express my gratitude to Rod Dickinson for provid-
ing copyright permissions for the cover image of this book.
The people below have all been very helpful and supportive, each
in their own way, while working on this project: Simon Avery, Steven
Bastow, Mark Bould, Harris Breslow, Andrew M. Butler, Fan Carter,
Christopher Daley, Robert Eaglestone, Evgenia Fotiou, Monica Germanà,
Emily Horton, Nick Hubble, Ewan Kirkland, Victor Ladrón de Guevara,
Karen Lipsedge, Andrew Maunder, Justin Sausman, Sara Upstone, Sherryl
Vint, Alex Warwick, Sara Wasson, Pat Wheeler and Aybige Yilmaz.
A separate acknowledgment needs to be made to Fred Botting, Roger
Luckhurst and Adam C. Roberts for their very resourceful feedback to
this research. Roger’s support has been invaluable and his own work a
major source of inspiration for the current book.
My deepest gratitude, however, has to go to my family for their sup-
port, patience and understanding.
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