The Post Apocalyptic Book Club
Sharon June 11th, 2008
Ok, back in my end-of-days (end of book, actually 
) mode, I mentioned the idea of a post-apocalyptic novel reading group, and there was much rejoicing (ok, maybe not rejoicing, but at least some enthusiasm). This sort of things warms my Lit-Geek heart, so I thought I’d put together the beginnings of a reading list. What fun! And yes, I know I’m stealing Crunchy Chicken’s eco-book club idea - I promise, Crunch, I’ll pay royalties.
So in order for you to have time to have a life, but also to cover the range of things, I thought we’d do two a month. That doesn’t mean you have to read two of them, but I know a lot of people have already read these, a lot of them are, shall we say, light reading, and you don’t have to read both - or any - you can follow along and decide whether you’d like to read them later.
I’m also going to go all Professorial on y’all and offer up the option of discussing a third text, an older, literary piece that I think has something to say about the idea of post-apocalyptic novels, and I’ll offer some recommended reading as well if you want to follow the month’s theme out further. This is really mostly about me - I want to think about these things together, so I’m throwing them out. I’m still working it out, but here’s what I’m thinking.
July - Month One: The Classic Guy’s Apocalypse: Cannibalism, Cannons and Doom!
Books: _The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress_ by Robert Heinlein and _Lucifer’s Hammer_ by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Supplemental High Culture Piece: “The Wasteland” by TS Eliot
I could have picked a lot of books to start this off, but I wanted to go to books that I think are “classic” versions of the post-apocalyptic science fiction story (the really classic 20th century ones are nuclear holocaust novels, but I think we’ll do those seperately, as their own theme later on). These aren’t the earliest science fiction books, but they are very representative of a particular genre.
The Heinlein book is, I think, flat out his best, and I used to teach it in a class on political fiction. It is not, in fact, a post-apocalyptic novel, but a novel about narrowly averted apocalypse. Heinlein has a couple of actual post-apocalyptic novels, most notably the transcendently awful _Farnham’s Freehold_, but TMIAHM has two advantages - it doesn’t suck and it also is a meditation on what is required to avert an impending environmental apocalypse.
I’m going to say upfront that I don’t think highly of _Lucifer’s Hammer_ but I include it for two reasons - one, it gets a lot of airplay. It comes up in PO discussions fairly often. The other reason is that it does a very good job of exploring the survivalist vision - something I think we’re going to end up talking about a lot.
Again, nobody has to read both, and you certainly don’t have to read “The Wasteland” - I include it because I think both Heinlein and Niven/Pournelle, both technocrats, are in some ways dancing around the self-destructiveness of modernity - both believe in technological destinies, and fundamentally dismiss the idea that self-limitation is mandatory. But neither can finally get away from what I see as an underlying unease about this idea - an unease that Eliot expresses so beautifully. So I’ll probably write a post about the links between the three texts, and if you want to read Eliot, I’d love to hear what you think.
Here’s a tentative schedule of my plan for the rest of the year, including months in which I’ll take a poll and do the books you folks want. Most of these books should be available from your local library, or through inter-library loan.
1. July - Classic Guy Apocalypses: Cannibalism, Guns and Doom: Heinlein and Niven/Pournelle, with Eliot as an option.
2. August - The Girl’s Guide to Apocalypse : Sherri Tepper’s _The Gate to Women’s Country_ and _Life as We Knew It_ by Susan Beth Pfeiffer. Optional: _The Handmaid’s Tale_ by Margaret Atwood.
I probably should have included Atwood as a primary text, but I’m assuming a lot of us read it at some point, and I think Tepper’s for all that it is very troubling, is a more creative approach to the question of gender and apocalypse. If you aren’t familiar with _Life as We Knew It_ it has been a very popular book among teenagers - including lots of teenage girls (it is a Young Adult book) and is shaping the discourse a bit. I think it is important to read popular fiction.
3. September - Energy Crash Month! Caryl Johnston’s _After the Crash_ and SM Stirling’s _Dies the Fire_. Optional Supplement: Selected poems and essays from Thoreau, Emerson and Berry
I haven’t read Johnston’s book yet, but am looking forward to it. I have kind of a love-hate relationship with Stirling, who I think is a weak writer, but who I enjoy nonetheless. I want to talk about differing visions of life without much or any fossil fueled energies.
I haven’t picked the texts for each month yet, and I welcome suggestions, and votes. Here’s what I’m thinking.
4. October: Reader Choice Month - I’ll take a poll and select your faves, and put together a theme. Will it be “Zombies?” “Time Travel?” “Reversion to Hunter-Gatherer Society?” or something completely different. And how shall we choose?
5. November: Nuclear Holocaust Month! (Don’t I have the best, most cheerful titles? )
I definitely want to do _Alas Babylon_ and am considering _On the Beach_ but if someone has a suggestion for a less-obvious choice than OTB, I’d welcome it. I can’t remember is _The Postman_ explicitly post nuke? I want to get that one in somewhere. I’m probably going to suggest that instead of a novel, we all watch “Dr. Strangelove” one more time, but maybe I’ll come up with something more literary. The fun is in the juxtaposition, isn’t it ?
6. December: Ecological Doom Month!: Still mulling over the choices on this one - got a fave? There are so many options! Perhaps something by Kim Stanley Robinson? Suggestions? I’m almost tempted to include the horrible Michael Crichton climate-denial novel, because again, I do think it is enormously important to read and discuss the books that alter our culture, but I’ll only do it if everyone swears they will not buy it .
7. January: High Culture Month - I’ll be reversing the order of things, and offering literary primary texts and a trashy supplement. Hey, it is January, right? You’ve got time to read. Maybe McCarthy’s _The Road_ and selections from _The Canterbury Tales_ (I bet you didn’t know they were post-apocalyptic - but several are plague narrative) and Boccacio’s _Decameron_ or maybe Ben Jonson’s very funny and very sad play “The Alchemist” or Mary Shelley’s _The Last Man_. Or maybe you have a suggestion? For a supplement, I’m going to to find the trashiest, worst post-apocalyptic novel ever. Suggestions?
8. February: Horrible Disease Month! - Stephen King’s _The Stand_ and Jose’ Saramago’s _Blindness_. High Culture Text: Marlowe’s “Dr. Faustus” - a classic plague text.
9. March - Religion and Apocalypse: Ok, this is going to generate some controversy. I’m going to suggest we read Butler’s _The Parable of the Sower_ alongside the first of the _Left Behind Novels_. The reason for the latter is that they are the single most frequently read and influential apocalyptic novels in history - and most of us ought to know what they say. One of my lit profs once observed that there has never been a time in history where what we treated as literature was so deeply disconnected to what most people are actually reading. That’s a disconnect that shouldn’t exist - because it is shaping the popular perception of apocalypse. Literary Supplement: I’m torn between _The Swiss Family Robinson_, or the Book of Revelations.
10. April - The Collapse of States: If we don’t do _The Postman_ elsewhere, certainly this. Roth’s _The Plot Against America_ is a good option. What Else? High Culture options: _Things Fall Apart_ or Narudin Farah’s _Close Sesame_
11. May - Internet Fiction Month - This month I want to showcase some of what’s out there that isn’t being formally published. I’ll put up a range of short stories and online novels that we can explore. There’s a lot of fascinating stuff being written out there. If I can get my act together, I’ll also put up a short story or two of my own, and encourage you all to do some fiction writing.
12. June - Population Apocalypses: Too Many? Too Few? Certainly PD James’ _The Children of Men_, and again, so many choices, so little time. Suggestions?
Ok, obviously, I need your input. And you might want to get reading - I’ll start with the Heinlein in the second week of July (I’m out of town the first).
Cheers - and what fun! Doom, doom and more doom!
Sharon