After Engulfment: Cosmicism and Neocosmicism by Ellen J. Greenham

$25.00

  • Cosmicism and Neocosmicism in H. P. Lovecraft, Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein, and Frank Herbert
  • 340 pages
  • Trade paperback
  • ISBN 9781614983774 (paperback)
  • ISBN 9781614983811 (ebook - coming soon!)
  • Cover by Dan Sauer

 

In this pioneering work of criticism, spanning the genres of weird fiction and science fiction, Ellen J. Greenham examines H. P. Lovecraft’s influence on canonical science fiction writers and the use of Lovecraft’s cosmicism as a lens through which selected works by Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein, and Frank Herbert can be interpreted. Put simply, After Engulfment examines the experience of being human in an impersonal universe.

 

In Greenham’s analysis, Lovecraft’s cosmicism offers human beings limited options in madness or death as responses to the inescapable revelation of their own insignificance and ephemerality in the universe. The neocosmicism of Dick, Heinlein, and Herbert offers another pathway in the framework for how humans might respond when facing engulfment. Rather than yielding to despair, neocosmicism offers an experience that leads to the revitalisation of the human’s relationship with the universe it inhabits.

 

In its broad reach and keen, sensitive study of many of the leading texts of 20th-century horror and science fiction, After Engulfment presents a new way of looking at Lovecraft and his literary legacy.

 

Ellen J. Greenham is a Lecturer in Career Learning at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia. She is the author of papers on Jim Morrison, neocosmic apocalypse, and American and Russian science fiction.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Glossary of Terms

Abbreviations for Major Works

Part I: Universe

Chapter 1: Universe and Cosmos

Chapter 2: Cosmologies

Chapter 3: Fractured Universe

Part II: Cosmicism

Chapter 4: Cosmicism Is

Chapter 5: Schizophrenic Universe

Chapter 6: Heimlich Universe

Chapter 7: Frozen Universe

Chapter 8: Perihelion

Part III: Neocosmicism

Chapter 9: Neocosmicism Is

Chapter 10: Aphelion

Chapter 11: Psychotic Universe

Chapter 12: Chimeras and Cannibals

Chapter 13: The Romance of the Universe

Bibliography

Index

 

 

 



This product was added to our catalog on Wednesday 01 June, 2022.