Theme: Analysis of Post-Apocalyptic Novel genre in English literature: origin, characters and successful representatives

Battle Angel Alita (1990 debut) is a cyberpunk manga about an amnesiac female cyborg, Alita. It was later adapted into the James Cameron film Alita: Battle Angel (2019).
The anime and manga X by Clamp features a supernatural apocalypse. In it there is a battle over the end of the world between the "Dragons of Heaven" who wish to save humanity, and the "Dragons of Earth" who wish to wipe out humanity. The central character, Kamui Shirō, has to choose which side to fight for. The manga began in 1992 and has been on hiatus since 2003. It has been adapted as an anime film in 1996^[52] and an anime television series between 2001 and 2002.^[53]
In Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995 debut), the story takes place on an earth shattered by the Second Impact (referring to the "giant-impact hypothesis 4.5 billion years ago, Theia as the first impact) in Antarctica, in which the security agency NERV tries to secure Neo Tokyo from a Third Impact, while holding back the real story of the Second Impact from the public and even the protagonists. The Second Impact had led to mass extinctions and wars, as well as significant changes to the planet's climate and population.
Uchuu no Stellvia (2003 debut) describes an earth after being hit by a big electromagnetic wave from a supernova of a nearby star, where mankind needs to rescue the earth 189 years after this impact from a second wave of matter coming towards the solar system. The anime shows a globalized society who have put together to fight this "enemy".
In Black Bullet (2011 debut), the earth was devastated by an alien race, spreading a virus that transforms humans into some kind of insect. Only the major cities holding back behind big walls of some fictitious material and are under constant threat to be invaded when these walls fail.
Attack on Titan (2009 debut) showcases a similar story, but this time the society have fallen back into a medieval state, with humanity having taken refuge behind three massive stone walls that protect them from the Titans, massive naked humanoid creatures, who feed on humans. The main plot revolves around the mysterious origin of the Titans, and uncovering the forgotten history of humanity.^[54]
In Kino's Journey The Story sets on Kino, a girl of 15 years who forms a link with a talking motorbike named Hermes. Together, the duo explores different places and different nations all the while, appreciating the young beauty of life. Their journey through the post-apocalyptic world and various ruins will teach them something useful about life and its unknown depths.

CONCLUSION

Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction is a genre which involves global catastrophe risk. This kind of literature narrates an apocalyptic event typically being climactic which may be either natural such as runway climatic change or manmade such as nuclear warfare, or medical such as spread of virus or plague, or imaginative such as zombie apocalypse or alien invasion. Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife and pollution. Climate fiction, or climate change fiction, popularly abbreviated as cli-fi, modeled after sci-fi) is the literature that deals with global warming and climate extremities. Not necessarily speculative in nature, works of cli-fi may take place in our world in the near future.
Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in a non-technological future world, or a world where only scattered elements of society and technology remain. Other themes may be cybernetic revolt, divine judgment, ecological collapse, pandemic, resource depletion, supernatural phenomena, technological singularity, or some other general disaster. To study the themes of this genre, it is important to understand the differences between these sub-genres. There are three main ‘bleak future’ narratives: dystopian, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic. Dystopias are set in a fully functioning but malevolent society. Though the conditions are awful there are institutions such as medicine and finance that can be recognized. Apocalyptic stories are set during a major disaster such as an earthquake or alien invasion. The disaster is almost always averted in these films and society continues. Post-apocalyptic stories are set after an apocalyptic event. There is no structure and no society. Humanity has returned to a more primitive and brutal mode of existence. There are differences in the themes too. Apocalyptic literature is about humanity uniting to use our best resources and innovation to overcome an external threat as in Independence Day (1996) and Armageddon (1998). These books have very pro-technology themes, since that is often humanity’s best chance of survival.
In contrast, post-apocalyptic works are generally driven by anti-technology, anti-urban, and anti-modernity themes. The premise of these stories is that the modern world became so corrupted due to technological advancement and growing materialism that it destroyed itself. This leads to a second chance to build a pastoral utopia. Post-apocalyptic fiction takes the world back to a state of primitivism where life is arduous and strenuous without gadgets and machines. But the endings of these novels suggest the ideal scenario is to stay in one of the three main categories: a natural paradise, a pastoral farming community, and a small self sustaining town.

List of used Literature

1. 
   Booker, M. Keith; Thomas, Anne-Marie (2009). The Science Fiction Handbook. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-1-4443-1035-1.
   
2. 
   "Themes : Ruined Earth : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia". www.sf-encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2021-08-20.
   
3. 
   Zimbaro, Valerie P. (1996). Encyclopedia of Apocalyptic Literature. US: ABC-CLIO. p. 9. ISBN 0-87436-823-5.
   
4. 
   Zamora, Lois Parkinson (1993). Writing the Apocalypse: Historical Vision in Contemporary U.S. and Latin American Fiction. Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-42691-X.
   
5. 
   Hicks, H. (2016). The Post-Apocalyptic Novel in the Twenty-First Century: Modernity beyond Salvage. Palgrave Macmillan US. ISBN 978-1-137-54584-8.
   
6. 
   "Why Are So Many Movies And Shows Set In The Post-Apocalypse?". Archived from the original on 2017-03-04. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
   
7. 
   Harris, Paul (8 August 2009). "Hollywood searches for escapism after the apocalypse". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
   
8. 
   Zhang, Kristi Yeung Zinan (24 January 2014). "The Neverending Apocalypse". The Princeton Buffer. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
   
9. 
   Sharif, Aaron Smith-Walter and Fatima Sparger. "IS GOVERNMENT (UN)DEAD?: WHAT APOCALYPTIC FICTION TELLS US ABOUT OUR VIEW OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION". pracademics.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
   

1^ 1.Booker, M. Keith; Thomas, Anne-Marie (2009). The Science Fiction Handbook. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-1-4443-1035-1.
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22."Themes : Ruined Earth : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia". www.sf-encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2021-08-20.

3

44. Zamora, Lois Parkinson (1993). Writing the Apocalypse: Historical Vision in Contemporary U.S. and Latin American Fiction. Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-42691-X.

1. 
   5FICTION TELLS US ABOUT OUR VIEW OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION". pracademics.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.