The End of the World: Apocalypse and Its Aftermath in Western Culture

224 Pages·2011·5.73 MB·English

by  Maria Manuel Lisboa

Maria Manuel Lisboa
The End of the World
Apocalypse and its Aftermath in
Western Culture
OpenBook
Publishers
THE END OF THE WORLD
Maria Manuel Lisboa is Professor of Portuguese Literature and Culture at the
University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. She
specialises in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Portuguese and Brazilian
literature, focusing on gender and national identity. She has written four
monographs, including one on the renowned Portuguese artist Paula Rego.
Maria Manuel Lisboa received the 2008 Prémio do Grémio Literário.
The End of the World:
Apocalypse and its Aftermath in
Western Culture
Maria Manuel Lisboa
Open Book Publishers CIC Ltd.,
40 Devonshire Road, Cambridge, CB1 2BL, United Kingdom
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© 2011 Maria Manuel Lisboa
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ISBN Hardback: 978-1-906924-51-5
ISBN Paperback: 978-1-906924-50-8
ISBN Digital (pdf): 978-1-906924-52-2
Cover image: David Fox, New Zealand, flooded coastal forest (2010)
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This book is dedicated to our planet, with best wishes for many happy returns.
In memory of my mother-in-law, Winifred Brick and my uncle, Ilídio Lisboa.
This World is not Conclusion. Where have all the flowers gone?
A Species stands beyond— Long time passing
Invisible, as Music— Where have all the flowers gone?
But positive, as Sound— Long time ago
It beckons, and it baffles— Where have all the flowers gone?
Philosophy—don’t know— Girls have picked them every one
And through a Riddle, at the last— When will they ever learn?
Sagacity, must go— When will they ever learn?
To guess it, puzzles scholars— Where have all the young girls gone?
To gain it, Men have borne Long time passing
Contempt of Generations Where have all the young girls gone?
And Crucifixion […]. Long time ago
Where have all the young girls gone?
Emily Dickinson Taken husbands every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Covered with flowers every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?
Pete Seeger

Contents
Page
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Prologue xv
1. Apocalypse Now and Again 1
2. The World Gone M.A.D. 17
3. And Then There Was Nothing: Is the End Ever 49
Really the End?
4. Falling Out with Hal and Hester 103
5. Dying of Happiness: Utopia at the End of this 131
World
Afterword: Libera Me, Domine, De Vita Æterna 171
Bibliography 177
Index 187

List of Illustrations
Page
Figure 1. Hieronymus Bosch xvi
The Last Judgement, triptych fragment (1506-1508)
Oil on panel
Munich: Altepinakothek
Figure 2. William Blake xvii
Death on a Pale Horse (c. 1800)
Drawing
Cambridge: The Fitzwilliam Museum
© Fitzwilliam Museum
Figure 3. René Magritte 4
L’invention collective (Collective Invention) (1935)
Oil on canvas
Private collection
© Photothèque R. Magritte – ADAGP, Paris 2011
Figure 4. William Blake 4
Nebuchadnezzar (c. 1795)
London: Tate
Colour monotype print with additions in ink and watercolour
Figure 5. René Magritte 5
Les merveilles de la nature (The Wonders of Nature) (1953)
Oil on canvas
Chicago: Museum of Contemporary art
© Photothèque R. Magritte – ADAGP, Paris 2011