Rewriting the end: douglas coupland's treatment of apocalypse in hey nostradamus! And girlfriend in a coma

In this article, Greenberg examines how Canadian author Douglas Coupland reworks apocalyptic themes in two of his novels: Girlfriend in a Coma (1998) and Hey Nostradamus! (2003). He argues that Coupland uses apocalypse not simply as spectacular end-of-world imagery but as a narrative device to interrogate meaning, values and human agency in a post-religious, late-modern culture. In Girlfriend in a Coma, the apocalypse is literal and global: many people fall asleep or die, the world ends in a dramatic fashion, yet survivors are offered a second chance. The article shows how this novel uses end-time tropes to ask: what happens to people when the old world collapses? What values remain? In Hey Nostradamus!, Greenberg argues, Coupland turns away from large-scale destruction to focus on individual trauma (a school-shooting) and the aftermath: apocalypse is internal, personal, tied to faith, grief, and the possibility of rewriting the end (rather than just witnessing it). The article identifies a movement in Coupland’s work from spectacle apocalypse toward a more muted, humanist and wounded view of endings. In doing so, Coupland challenges teleological narratives (i.e., fixed endings) and asserts that endings can be rewritten, reinterpreted, or lived through differently.

Loại tài liệu:

Article - Bài báo

Tác giả:

Greenberg, Louis

Đề mục:

Literary studies

Nhà xuất bản:

Taylor & Francis

Ngày xuất bản:

2010

Số trang/ tờ:

Định dạng:

pdf

Định danh tư liệu:

https://doi.org/10.1080/00138398.2010.533833

Nguồn gốc:

English Studies in Africa, Volume 53, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 21-33,123

Liên kết:

ISSN 0013-8398

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Rewriting the end: douglas coupland's treatment of apocalypse in hey nostradamus! And girlfriend in a coma

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