Solitary Survivor Research Articles

Recycling Apocalypse: A Review of Heather J. Hicks, The Post-Apocalyptic Novel in the Twenty-First Century: Modernity Beyond Salvage

Recycling ApocalypseA Review of Heather J. Hicks, The Post-Apocalyptic Novel in the Twenty-First Century: Modernity Beyond Salvage Peter Paik (bio) Hicks, Heather. The Post-Apocalyptic Novel in the Twenty-First Century: Modernity Beyond Salvage. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Post-apocalyptic fiction has become arguably the defining genre of the contemporary period. A search on WorldCat reveals that Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake (2003) — which depicts the near-total extinction of the human species in a pandemic and its replacement by bio-engineered humanoids — has been a topic in over sixty dissertations and the subject of over 400 articles. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2006) has figured in roughly eighty dissertations and over 1,300 articles. Novels such as these have exerted an outsized influence on popular culture, given the current fascination with the post-human in such series as Westworld or the reboot of The Planet of the Apes — as well as the great success enjoyed by the narrative of the zombie apocalypse, which parallels the basic plotline of The Road, where a father and son must guard against being captured and eaten by cannibals. But the significance of today’s post-apocalyptic fiction remains very much in dispute. Should we understand the intense interest as a symptom of collective fear, whether of religious extremism, economic collapse, or catastrophic climate change? Does the spectacle of the destruction of a technically advanced civilization constitute a form of metaphoric atonement for the colonization of the globe by the Western powers? Or is the apocalypse a kind of figure for a fundamental psychic deadlock, a response to the loss of an otherness that could serve as a source of sociopolitical renewal for a society that remains incapable of transforming itself to avoid catastrophe? In The Post-Apocalyptic Novel in the Twenty-First Century: Modernity Beyond Salvage, Heather J. Hicks analyzes six works by authors who have become widely known as representative of the genre of post-apocalyptic fiction – David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas (2004), Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods (2007), Colson Whitehead’s Zone One (2011), and Paolo Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker (2012), in addition to the aforementioned Oryx and Crake and The Road. Her thesis — that the key theme of the post-apocalyptic novel is the collapse of modernity — challenges the familiar version of literary history, according to which the modernist aesthetic that is defined by seriousness of purpose and aspires to depth of insight is succeeded by a postmodern aesthetic that revels in irony, strikes deliberately superficial poses, and insouciantly repudiates the cultural authority accorded to high culture. Post-apocalyptic literature by contrast forms a sort of middle ground between the modern and the postmodern – it is marked by a certain seriousness in posing urgent questions about the future of humankind and the fate of the planet, while being close in formal terms to such more accessible genres as adventure fiction or horror fiction. Post-apocalyptic fiction is preoccupied with survival, which leads it to place an intense focus on the material conditions of existence. The collapse of industrial society throws the characters in these works back on their own resources to save themselves and their loved ones or to preserve the remnants of civilized ways. For Hicks, the patron saint of the apocalyptic novel turns out to be Robinson Crusoe, the solitary survivor of a shipwreck who draws on his knowledge, instinct, skills, and religious faith to recreate on his desert island as best as he can the civilized existence that he has lost. In the novels under consideration, there has been or takes place a calamity on a planetary scale, such as nuclear war, a global epidemic, a zombie apocalypse, economic collapse, or the depletion of natural resources. The preoccupation with disaster results not in a wholesale repudiation of modernity as the source of inescapably destructive enterprises, but instead in the efforts of the protagonists to “salvage” various elements of the ruined civilization in the furtherance of life (15). Robinson Crusoe serves as the emblematic figure for such an undertaking. His presence can be felt in the watchfulness of the father in McCarthy’s The Road, whose “competence and acuity” ensure that he will...

Apocalyptic Narcissism and the Difficulty of Mourning

In this article I examine how death and loss feature in recent apocalypse fiction and suggest that, in a genre mostly concerned with finitude, there appears to be paradoxically little room for expressions of mourning. I assess contemporary attitudes towards mortality through the writings of Philippe Aries, Zygmunt Bauman, Simon Critchley and others, and propose a psychoanalytic reading of solitary survivor narrative, inspired by the work of Martin Jay. In the final part of the article, I turn to Sigmund Freud and Rene Girard to explore the relation between apocalyptic teleology, melancholy, and the expectation of global catastrophe.

A critically appraised topic (CAT) to compare the effects of single and multi-cat housing on physiological and behavioural measures of stress in domestic cats in confined environments

BackgroundDomestic cats have evolved from solitary, asocial predators and whilst they may display social behaviours, they can still exist as solitary survivors. Over-population and relinquishment of pet cats are ubiquitous problems worldwide, and rehoming centres (also known as rescues/ shelters) aim to ameliorate this by holding cats in confinement for a variable period until a new home is found. The provision of optimal housing for large numbers of cats in close confinement, such as in rehoming centres, is therefore inherently difficult. Under these conditions there is the potential for individuals to develop signs of physical and psychological ill health, and thus experience compromised welfare. Available information regarding housing practices that maximise welfare currently provides conflicting results, and as a consequence there are no unanimous housing recommendations. The aim of this study was therefore to review the evidence on the impact of single housing compared to multi-cat housing on stress in confined cats, as measured by physiological and/or behavioural outcomes. The review was conducted using a Critically Appraised Topic (CAT) format. A systematic search of electronic databases (CAB s, Zoological Records and Medline) was carried out to identify peer-reviewed literature comparing single and multi-cat housing in confined environments.ResultsA total of 959 papers were initially identified, six of which met sufficient criteria based on their relevance to be included within this review. All of the studies had significant limitations in design and methodology, including a lack of information on how groups were assigned, inconsistent handling and enrichment provision between groups, and lack of information on the socialisation status of cats.ConclusionsWhilst some studies suggested that single housing may be less stressful for cats, others suggested group housing was less stressful. Several other important factors were however identified as potential mediators of stress within the different housing systems, and recommendations based upon these findings are presented.

Naturalizing Apocalypse: Last Men and Other Animals

Expectations of a dystopian or apocalyptic future are central to twentieth and twenty-first century culture, and constitute a pervasive influence on popular culture, religious identity, and political ideology. Political scientists, philosophers and literary critics have emphasized the Manichean worldview that underlies present-day concerns with the future: a desire to cast historical events in terms of a struggle between light and darkness, good and evil, until the end of time. 1 ‘The apocalyptic imagination’, notes sociologist John Wallis, ‘has a tendency to conceive the world in starkly dualistic terms [...] There are, in other words, no shades of grey within apocalypticism, nor any moral ambiguity’. 2 Millenarian ideology, according tothisinterpretation, precipitates violence: for the believer, events cohere as part of a universal, apocalyptic plan; actual or perceived opponents are traitors or agents of evil; the sense of an imminent end of history inspires plans of empowerment, and calls for ruthless action. The Revelation of John, with its mythic and graphic description of end-time conflict, provides a compelling context for such narratives of apocalyptic bloodshed. Revelation, according to feminist theologian Tina Pippin, is a source of ‘sublime horror’, a celebration of sadistic violence that casts its shadow on other public expressions of religious faith. 3 In her wide-ranging study of spirit forms, Phantasmagoria, Marina Warner reaches an even bleaker conclusion. For the British novelist and cultural historian, ‘the present disturbing diffusion of this biblical book [Revelation] has a new, unexamined moral force, a redundant nastiness, the kind that many centuries of thought about justice and humanity have striven to put aside’. 4 But not all expressions of apocalyptic culture lend themselves to this interpretation. Unlike other end-time narratives, last man fictions–tales of solitary survivors and of the sudden annihilation of

Ruin, Gender, and Digital Games

Hail, solitary ruins! holy sepulchres, and silent walls! you I invoke) to you I address my prayer. While your aspect averts, with secret terror, the vulgar regard, it excites in my heart the charm of delicious sentiments - sublime contemplations. What useful lessons! What affecting and profound reflections you suggest to him who knows how to consult you. When the whole earth, in chains and silence, bowed the neck before its tyrants, you had already proclaimed the truths which they abhor, and confounding the dust of the king with that of the meanest slave, had announced to man the sacred dogma of Equality! - C. F. Volney, The Ruins, 1791 Ruin, broadly defined as the decaying remnants of abandoned or destroyed physical structures, is a common aesthetic across many modes of artistic expression, including paintings, photography, literature, and cinema. It is perhaps not a surprise, then, to see similar ruin imagery appear as a common motif in the emerging medium of digital games. Indeed, ruin aesthetics serve as the primary setting in many popular games. The proliferation of such imagery across such a wide range of media reflects an apparent human fascination with ruin - a fascination that has been revealed by the few attempts to dissect it as quite complex and varied across individuals, cultures, and time periods. One of the many themes that emerges from such an analysis is the idea that the destruction of physical structures is paralleled by, and symbolic of, the destruction of social structures, thus associating ruin with liberation and freedom. Edensor alludes to this when he describes ruins as spaces in which the interpretations of practices of the city become liberated from the everyday constraints which determine what should be done and where (2005, 4). In this interpretation of ruin, it follows that if such physical structures were built by and stood as of a masculine-dominated society, then the ruins of these buildings symbolize the destruction of that society. These ruins then become a space that offers freedom from the same gender-oppressive institutions that once permeated them, and thus sites of empowerment. These associations of ruin with freedom from social constraint play out in artistic re-creations of ruin as well. During the French Revolution, the Jacobin association of physical destruction with social destruction played out in much of the art of its time, which was full of a joyful destruction of monuments (Goldstein 1977, 144). Modern postapocalyptic films often tie together ruin imagery and freedom from social constraints. For example, the film IAm Legend (Goldsman et al. 2007) juxtaposes images of a ruined city with images of the solitary survivor freely looting stores, hitting golf balls off the wing of an F- 15 and driving at breakneck speeds through the city streets with an assault rifle. These connections frame ruin as an icon of resistance and subversion; in turn, what is being resisted depends on what the ruined structures are taken to represent or to have once represented. Since digital games frequently use this aesthetic, it is not unreasonable to suspect that this thematic association may echo into these virtual worlds of ruination. The interactive nature of digital games makes them a more complex medium to analyze than traditional media. Instead of simply consuming the medium, players are given a participatory role in the creating it. Kirkland (2009) suggests looking at video games as texts, while emphasizing the unique nature of the texts as games. Calleja suggests in his Digital Game Experience Model that digital games should be looked at more as aesthetically designed experience (2007, 4). Most agree that it is important to take into account the partially user-generated nature in any kind of meaningful analysis, and any analysis of ruin and gender in digital games must acknowledge this. At the very least, the messages about gender communicated through and in connection with ruin imagery must be looked at in terms of both the visual setting of the virtual environment and the potentially gendered nature of the gameplay - in the actions afforded, encouraged, discouraged, and denied to the player. …

Lawrence R. Bailey and Ron Martz, Solitary Survivor: The First American POW in Southeast Asia.

Lawrence R. Bailey and Ron Martz, <i>Solitary Survivor: The First American POW in Southeast Asia</i>.

Leisure Travel Expenditure Patterns by Family Life Cycle Stages

This study examines travel expenditure patterns by family life cycle (FLC) stages and identifies characteristics that influence the likelihood and level of travel expenditures in the U.S. The 1999–2000 Consumer Expenditure (CE) survey is used and a two-stage tobit regression analysis is performed. Across the FLC, families maximize their utility through different allocations of resources among leisure travel goods and services as shown by the results of this study. Marrieds without children are more likely to spend on leisure travel than singles, whereas single parents and solitary survivors are less likely to spend on leisure travel than singles. Moreover, Marrieds without children, full nesters II, and empty nesters spend significantly more than singles, whereas solitary survivors spend significantly less on leisure travel. Constraint factors (time and money) and various sociodemographic characteristics are significantly associated with the likelihood of spending on leisure travel and total expenditures. Based on these findings, implications formarketers are discussed.

Six-year prospective audit of chest reopening after cardiac arrest.

To identify which patients benefit from chest reopening after cardiac arrest. Cardio-thoracic hospital undertaking full range of adult cardio-thoracic surgery. In-hospital arrests were prospectively audited over a 6-year period. Information was collected for every patient whose chest was reopened following cardiac arrest: location of arrest, type of arrest, specialty, time since surgery, time to chest reopening, location of chest opening, surgical findings on reopening, time to cardiopulmonary bypass (if used) and patient outcomes. Arrests in theatre and chest openings for reasons other than cardiac arrest. There were 818 confirmed in-hospital arrests following 'cardiac arrest calls'. Chest reopening was undertaken in 79 surgical patients. Overall survival to discharge was 20/79 (25%). Favourable determinants of outcome were: arrest on intensive care unit (ICU), arrest within 24 h of surgery and reopening within 10 min of arrest. Nineteen of 58 (33%) chest openings following arrests on the ICU survived to discharge compared to one of 21 (5%) patients whose initial arrest was outside the ICU (P=0.017). One of nine ward arrests scooped to ICU for chest reopening survived whereas all 12 patients reopened on the ward died. Fifteen of 40 patients (38%) reopened within 24 h surgery survived compared to five of 39 patients where reopening was undertaken more than 24 h after surgery (P=0.02). Fourteen of 29 (48%) patients opened within 10 min of arrest survived to discharge compared to six of 50 (12%) patients where time to reopening was more than 10 min (P=<0.001). Seven of 22 patients (32%) patients where emergency bypass was utilised survived to discharge. This study strongly confirms the benefit of chest reopening after cardiac arrest in the cardiac surgical ICU. Patients who arrest within 24 h of surgery and in whom reopening is instituted within 10 min are particularly likely to benefit. The value of chest reopening in arrests outside the ICU remains unresolved. All patients reopened on the ward died, suggesting that this practice should be discontinued. Early 'scoop and run' resulted in one solitary survivor though it should probably be restricted to patients who arrest within 72 h of surgery as surgically remediable problems are unlikely after this time.

Solitary survivor: the first American POW in Southeast Asia

Solitary survivor: the first American POW in Southeast Asia

Cuestiones de sobrevivencia

Cuestiones de sobrevivencia

Differences between nonrespondents and refusers in market surveys using mixed modes of contact

When one is conducting survey research under mixed modes of contact, which incorporate both an interviewer-present component and a self-administered component (i.e., drop-off delivery, prenotification, “foot-in-the-door” techniques), potential respondents may choose to not participate in the study in two distinct ways. First, they may refuse or not refuse the interviewer’s request for participation. Later, they may respond or not respond to the self-administered questionnaire or other data collection form. As such, surveys conducted under such mixed modes of contact afford the researcher an opportunity to search for differences between refusers and nonrespondents in survey research. This article reports on the results of one such study incorporating a classic footin-the-door design. Of a sampling frame of 2,500 households, 2,128 were contacted and completed a short preliminary telephone interview seeking mostly demographic information. Of those, 257 (12%) refused the interviewer’s request to complete a longer mailed questionnaire and were classified as refusers. Another 857 (40%) agreed to complete the mailed questionnaire, but they did not and were classified as nonrespondents. Demographic comparisons revealed substantial differences between the two nonparticipation groups and respondents-differences described by the researchers as largely following family life cycle patterns. Nonrespondents tended to be disproportionately represented by Full-Nest I consumers (e.g., compared to respondents, 12% more nonrespondents were under 35 years old, 6% more had dependent children living at home, 10% more of those had youngest child under 6 years of age, and 7% more were employed outside the home.) On the other hand, refusers tended to be disproportionately represented by Empty-Nest II consumers and Solitary Survivors (e.g., compared to respondents, 9% more were over 50 years old, 16% fewer had dependent children at home, 11% fewer were employed, 13% more had annual income under $10,000, and 10% fewer were married).

Life Cycle Squeeze and the Morale Curve

Morale is high when people know the ropes in a stable career context and are at a stage in the family cycle where their resources and rewards balance their aspirations. For most modern workers that balance is least evident early and late in when morale sags expecially among solitary survivors or young couples with preschool children. Empirical data reported here on the deviant case of professionals in a solid financial position employed or unemployed show more balance between rewards and aspirations over the cycle but a modest loss of morale when children leave home. Unemployed professionals under severe financial pressure however fit the pattern mass; they are relieved when children leave. A great range of behaviors and attitudes can be explained by the use of the idea of life cycle squeeze and by attention to interlocking cycles of family work consumption social participation and morale. (authors modified)

II.—On the Palæontology of the Selachian Genus Notidanus, Cuvier

Among the Selachians of the existing fauna, there are none of greater interest and higher morphological importance than Notidanus, Cestracion, and the recently-discovered Chlamydoselachus from Japanese seas. These are the solitary survivors of once flourishing types, whose immediate congeners are only known to Biological science through the fragmentary remains preserved in the geological record; and the value of the archaic features they present is even further enhanced by the slight information already acquired regarding the geological distribution of their numerous extinct allies.