Messianic Fiction in Antoine Volodine's Nuclear Catastrophe Novel Minor Angels
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3137096 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Susannah Elli, Susannah Ellis (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 223-237 |
| Publication date | 2019-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Paragraph (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0264-8334 • E-ISSN: 1750-0176 |
| Publisher | Edinburgh University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3366/para.2019.0300 |
| OpenAlex | W2953383014 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 7 |
In Specters of Marx, Derrida suggests that a non-revolutionary - 'spectral' - Marxism could alleviate a contemporary crisis in imagining the future in the late twentieth century. This 'presentist' crisis results from the collapse of Communism and the alleged triumph of neoliberal democracy, and leaves a dubious choice between neoliberal consensus and potential totalitarianism. This article outlines Derrida's call to a messianic wait for the singularity of an always-arriving future-to-come, and suggests that it provides an entry into the post-nuclear universe of Antoine Volodine's Minor Angels, where a non-linear plot centres on the ghost of a failed Marxist revolutionary and its return. Outlining how Minor Angels creates a spectral temporality which undercuts both aspirations to a 'radiant future' and a stagnant present, this article argues that, read alongside, Derrida and Volodine sketch out a democratic future to come that gestures towards an alternative to presentism
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Democracy · Epistemology · Hegelianism · Humanities · Literature · Marxist philosophy · Political science · Politics · Presentism · Sketch · Temporality · Contemporary Literature and Criticism · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,29 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2021 (3) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |