Instruments of Enslavement - Force in Nuclear War Literature

Abstract

This MA thesis investigates the role that force plays in several works of literature that envision nuclear war. The concept of force, as outlined by Simone Weil in her essay "The Iliad or the Poem of Force," is an abstract concept that works behind violence, threats and oppression. Weil's terminology is further analysed by comparing it to Heidegger's analysis of technology. Martin Amis points out in his essay "Thinkability" that nuclear weapons are no longer under human control, but have instead acquired profound influence over human affairs. This thesis analyses nuclear weapons as the ultimate manifestation of Weil's concept and investigates how this influence is present in nuclear war novels such as Nevil Shute's On the Beach, William Golding´s The Lord of the Flies, H. G. Wells´s The World Set Free and Russell Hoban´s Riddley Walker.