Psychoanalyzing the Post-Apocalypse

‘Psychoanalyzing the Post-Apocalypse: Psychoanalytic Approaches to 21st Century Fiction and Film’ offers an interdisciplinary exploration of contemporary post-apocalyptic literature and cinema through psychoanalytic theory. Bringing together studies of major novels, films, and television series, the volume demonstrates how Freudian, Lacanian, Jungian, and post-Lacanian perspectives illuminate recurring themes such as trauma, desire, mourning, identity, repression, survival, and psychic renewal in worlds shaped by catastrophe.
The collection distinguishes itself by applying diverse psychoanalytic frameworks to a broad range of twenty-first-century texts, including "Oryx and Crake," "The Stone Gods," "Station Eleven," "War of the Worlds," "Vesper," "The Road," "The Leftovers," and "2012". Rather than offering generalized discussions of apocalypse, each chapter provides a theoretically grounded analysis of a specific work, revealing how narratives of collapse reflect contemporary anxieties while also imagining new forms of subjectivity, ethical relations, and resilience.
Positioned at the intersection of psychoanalytic criticism, literary studies, film studies, and cultural theory, the volume advances current scholarship by foregrounding the psychological dimensions of post-apocalyptic storytelling and demonstrating the versatility of psychoanalytic approaches in interpreting ecological, technological, and existential crises. It contributes an original perspective to the growing body of research on post-apocalyptic fiction by integrating multiple psychoanalytic traditions across diverse media and cultural contexts.
The book will serve as a valuable resource for researchers, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates in literature, film, media, psychoanalysis, and cultural studies. It is equally suitable for classroom adoption in courses on contemporary fiction, speculative literature, adaptation, and critical theory, while offering scholars a methodological framework for future interdisciplinary research on apocalypse and the human psyche.

Introduction
Chapter 1
Repetition, Ruin, and Resistance: The Death Drive and Traumatic Survival in War of the Worlds: New Millennium
Emrah Peksoy
Kahramanmaraş Istiklal University, Turkey
Chapter 2
The Pathology of Eternal Return: Psychoanalyzing the Death Drive in Winterson’s The Stone Gods
Parvin Sultana
P.B. College, Gauripur, Assam, India
Chapter 3
Survival Is Not Enough: Art, Memory, and Management of Loss in Station Eleven and Girls’ Last Tour
Kendra Sheehan
University of Louisville, USA
Chapter 4
Mad Max: Fury Road and Furiosa: The Psychoanalytic Unconscious in a World of Ruin and Rebirth
Luboš Ptáček
Charles University, Prague
Chapter 5
An Ark of Denial: Covering Over the Real of Environmental Disasters
Andrew Kirby
Queen’s University, Canada
Chapter 6
The Trickster Unbound: Jung, Lacan, and Feminist Psychoanalysis in Oryx and Crake
Henriata Krupa
Girne American University, Cyprus
Chapter 7
The Seed and the Self: Archetypal Individuation in the Post-Apocalyptic World of Vesper
Barbara Gabriella Renzi
Independent Researcher
Chapter 8
Ashes and Archetypes: A Jungian Analysis of Symbolic Descent and Transformation in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road
Eira H. Betthell
University of Essex, UK
Chapter 9
Mourning, Survivor Guilt, and Memory in The Leftovers
Barbara Miceli
University of Gdansk, Poland
About the Contributors
Index

Assoc. Prof. Ercan Gürova has been a faculty member at Ankara University, Turkey since 2005. He received his Ph.D. in English Culture and Literature. His recent publications include: “Mars and the Martians as Others in Philip K. Dick’s Story and Its Film Adaptation” (‘Science Fantasy,’ Lexington Books); “Human Vulnerability in Jack London’s The Scarlet Plague” (‘Depictions of Pestilence in Literature, Media, and Art,’ Cambridge Scholars Publishing); “After the End: Post-Apocalyptic Features in The Road and The Survivor” (‘Crossing Boundaries: Contemporary Readings in Comparative Literature,’ Duvar Publishing). He is also the translator of ‘Freshwater – Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Selected Poems and Three Wayfarers’ (Üç Yolcu) by Thomas Hardy. His research interests include science fiction, apocalyptic and dystopian narratives, robot ethics, animal studies, and translation studies.