Life without end: a thought experiment in literature from Swift to Houellebecq
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Rochester ; New York
Camden House
2017
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Inhaltsverzeichnis Klappentext |
| Item Description: | Originally published in German in 2015 under the title: Lebenszeit ohne Ende : Kulturgeschichte eines Gedankenexperiments in der Literatur. - Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Physical Description: | viii, 212 Seiten |
| ISBN: | 9781571139740 |
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Record in the Search Index
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| adam_text | Contents
Preface vii
1: Immortality in Science and Literature:
Dreams and Nightmares 1
The Desire for Unending Life in “This World” 1
Second Thoughts on Living Forever 12
The Chance of Literature: Forays into No-Man’s-Land 20
Preludes: Immortality in Myth and Folklore 23
The Risk of Literature: Limits of Creative Imagination 28
Preview: A Literary Theme from Swift to Houellebecq 32
2: Literary Thought Experiments: Life Everlasting, from
Blessing to Curse 34
Overview: The Many Faces of Immortality 34
“Joys All Want Eternity” 35
Euphoria of Eternal Youth: J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan 35
Eternity of the All-Too-Human: Italo Calvino,
Cosmicomics 42
Utopian Vision: G. B. Shaw, Back to Methuselah 50
The Living Dead: Adolfo Bioy Casares, The Invention
of Morel 59
Immortals and Their Antagonists 64
God-Given Finitude: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels 65
The Immortal Ape: Aldous Huxley, After Many a
Summer Dies the Swan 70
Immortality, Totalitarian-Style: Walter Besant,
The Inner House 75
Without Death, No Life: Arthur C. Clarke, The City
and the Stars 82
vi ♦ Contexts
The Scandal of Eternal Beautv: Oscar Wilde, The Pictrire
of Dorian Gray 9(
From God to Caveman: Jorge Luis Borges,
“The Immortal” 101
Immortality and Its Discontents 107
Alchemy and Gothic Horror: William Godwin and
Some English Romantics 107
Boredom of the Cold Heart: Karel Čapek,
The Makropulos Secret 114
The Wandering Portuguese: J. M. Machado de Assis,
“The Immortal” 122
The View from Sirius: Simone de Beauvoir, All Men
Are Mortal 125
Surviving the End of the World: Martin Amis,
“The Immortals” 130
The Lady in the Machine: Dino Buzzati, Larger than Life 133
Trouble in Paradise: Michel Houellebecq, The Possibility
of an Island 137
A World without Death: Disasters and Happy Endings 147
A Village in Turmoil: Iris Barry, The Last Enemy 148
A Country on the Brink of Ruin: José Saramago,
Death at Intervals 152
3: Blessings of Mortality: Limited Time, Limitless Possibilities? 158
Retrospect 158
Renunciation and New Horizons 159
Eternity Nevermore: Salman Rushdie, Grimus 160
Living on in Memory: Gabi Gleichmann, The Elixir
of Imm ortality 164
“Limited Time as a Source of Strength”?: Pascal Mercier,
Plight Train to Lisbon 166
Epilogue 174
Notes 177
Index of Names 205
The idea of earthly immortality has a tradition in literature dating
to the Gilgamesh epic. But what would it mean to attain such
immortality? Answers are suggested in novels and plays that explore
the theme using varieties of Borgess “rational imagination/ often in
connection with projections of biology or cybernetics. In this groundbreaking
study, Karl S. Guthke examines key works in this vein, throwing into relief
fascinating instances of human self-awareness across the last three hundred years.
Authors discussed in detail include J. M. Barrie, Calvino, Shaw, Adolfo Bioy
Casares, Swift, Aldous Huxley, ^Xhlter Besanr, Arthur C. Clarke, ^XΠde, Borges,
^XTlliam Godwin, P. B. and iViary Shelley, Capek, ivtachado de Assis,
Simone de Beauvoir, Nlartin Amis, Dino Buzzati, Houellebecq, Iris Barry,
Saramago, Rushdie, Gabi Gleichmann, and Pascal Mercier.
Guthke finds that the fictional triumph over death is only rarely viewed
positively, and mostly as a “curse’’-for a variety of reasons. Almost always,
however, literary experiments with immortality suggest an alternative: the
chance to take our limited lifetime into our own hands, shaping it meaningfully
and thereby experiencing “a new way of being in the world” (Adercier).
The fictional immortals reject this challenge, thus depriving themselves of what
makes humans human and life worth living. And what that might be is also at
least hinted at in the works Guthke analyzes. As a result, an aspect of cultural
history comes into view that is revealing and stimulating at a time that is,
as De։՜ Spiegel put it in 2014, “obsessed by the invention of immortality.”
|
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| language | English |
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| spelling | Guthke, Karl Siegfried 1933- (DE-588)116932562 aut Lebenszeit ohne Ende Life without end a thought experiment in literature from Swift to Houellebecq Karl S. Guthke Rochester ; New York Camden House 2017 viii, 212 Seiten txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Originally published in German in 2015 under the title: Lebenszeit ohne Ende : Kulturgeschichte eines Gedankenexperiments in der Literatur. - Includes bibliographical references and index Geschichte 1700-2015 gnd rswk-swf Immortality in literature Unsterblichkeit Motiv (DE-588)4331864-2 gnd rswk-swf Literatur (DE-588)4035964-5 gnd rswk-swf Literatur (DE-588)4035964-5 s Unsterblichkeit Motiv (DE-588)4331864-2 s Geschichte 1700-2015 z DE-604 Digitalisierung UB Augsburg - ADAM Catalogue Enrichment application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=029942570&sequence=000001&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Inhaltsverzeichnis Digitalisierung UB Augsburg - ADAM Catalogue Enrichment application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=029942570&sequence=000002&line_number=0002&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Klappentext |
| spellingShingle | Guthke, Karl Siegfried 1933- Life without end a thought experiment in literature from Swift to Houellebecq Immortality in literature Unsterblichkeit Motiv (DE-588)4331864-2 gnd Literatur (DE-588)4035964-5 gnd |
| subject_GND | (DE-588)4331864-2 (DE-588)4035964-5 |
| title | Life without end a thought experiment in literature from Swift to Houellebecq |
| title_alt | Lebenszeit ohne Ende |
| title_auth | Life without end a thought experiment in literature from Swift to Houellebecq |
| title_exact_search | Life without end a thought experiment in literature from Swift to Houellebecq |
| title_full | Life without end a thought experiment in literature from Swift to Houellebecq Karl S. Guthke |
| title_fullStr | Life without end a thought experiment in literature from Swift to Houellebecq Karl S. Guthke |
| title_full_unstemmed | Life without end a thought experiment in literature from Swift to Houellebecq Karl S. Guthke |
| title_short | Life without end |
| title_sort | life without end a thought experiment in literature from swift to houellebecq |
| title_sub | a thought experiment in literature from Swift to Houellebecq |
| topic | Immortality in literature Unsterblichkeit Motiv (DE-588)4331864-2 gnd Literatur (DE-588)4035964-5 gnd |
| topic_facet | Immortality in literature Unsterblichkeit Motiv Literatur |
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