It is the year 1880 and Wilhelmina Arnst and John Christian Aschen have just married in the Deutsche Kirche, on the corner of Worcester and Montreal Streets. They stand outside on the street with t…
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110823 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110824 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110836 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110833 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110832 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110839 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110830 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110828 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110835 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110829 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110827 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110837 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110838 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110831 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110834 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110826 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110822 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
File reference: CCL-2011-04-08-Lyttelton-Library-P1110825 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries Photos of Lyttelton Library on Friday 8 April, the day it re-opened after the February 22 earthquake.
This thesis investigates the relationship between the apocalyptic narrative and the postmodern novel. It explores and builds on Patricia Waugh‟s hypothesis in Practising Postmodernism: Reading Modernism (1992) which suggests that that the postmodern is characterised by an apocalyptic sense of crisis, and argues that there is in fact a strong relationship between the apocalyptic and the postmodern. It does so through an exploration of apocalyptic narratives and themes in five postmodern novels. It also draws on additional supporting material which includes literary and cultural theory and criticism, as well as historical theory. In using the novel as a medium through which to explore apocalyptic narratives, this thesis both assumes and affirms the novel‟s importance as a cultural artefact which reflects the concerns of the age in which it is written. I suggest that each of the novels discussed in this thesis demonstrates the close relationship between the apocalyptic and the postmodern through society‟s concern over the direction of history, the validity of meta-narratives, and other cultural phenomenon, such as war, the development of nuclear weaponry, and terrorism. Although the scope of this thesis is largely confined to the historical-cultural epoch known as postmodernity, it also draws on literature and cultural criticism from earlier periods so as to provide a more comprehensive framework for investigating apocalyptic ideas and their importance inside the postmodern novel. A number of modernist writers are therefore referred to or quoted throughout this thesis, as are other important thinkers from preceding periods whose ideas are especially pertinent. The present thesis was researched and written between March 2010 and August 2011 and is dedicated to all of those people who lost their lives in the apocalyptic events of the February 22nd Christchurch earthquake.
A photograph of a damaged garage on Fitzgerald Avenue. The brick side wall has crumbled onto the pavement below, and the roof has collapsed with it.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Hotel Grand Chancellor, demolished to a level that it no longer dominates the skyline".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Quake: Lyttelton: 'It's only a car': says St Johns volunteer Terry Leach of his car, under rubble in Lyttelton".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Clarendon Tower on the corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace with a crane next to it".
A large crack in the ground at Sullivan Park in Avonside. A large deposit of liquefaction has dried around it, and plants are growing up through the crack.
A large crack in the ground at Sullivan Park in Avonside. A large deposit of liquefaction has dried around it, and plants are growing up through the crack.
A sagging, damaged bridge across the Kaiapoi River in Kaiapoi. Fences have been erected around the bridge to stop people using it. The bridge connects Raven Quay and Charles Street.
A sagging, damaged bridge across the Kaiapoi River in Kaiapoi. Fences have been erected around the bridge to stop people using it. The bridge connects Raven Quay and Charles Street.
The cracked garden path of a house on Charles Street in Kaiapoi. A section of the fence has completely broken away from the post it was attached to.
As part of the future of Christchurch it is expected a third of all Catholic and almost half of all Presbyterian churches damaged in Christchurch's February earthquake might not be rebuilt.