Rocket states
Subtitle: atomic weaponry and the cultural imagination
By: Fabienne Collignon
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: 2014
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 179
ISBN-13: 9781623560041; 9781623569426; 9781623567255
Subjects: American literature; History and criticism; Cold War in literature; Cold War in motion pictures; Cold War; Popular culture; History; LITERARY CRITICISM / American / General; LITERARY CRITICISM / General; HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century
Description: "Rocket States crosses the disciplines of Cold War Studies, American Literature, American Studies and Cultural Studies. The particular attraction of this study lies in the combination of its range--close textual and visual analysis of the correlations between land and weaponry, set firmly within its political and cultural contexts--with its unique analytical approach. The book offers a synthesis between history, theories of technology, theories of space, popular culture, literary study and military science. It illuminates a variety of literary texts from key writers and thinkers such as Pynchon, Stephen King, Norman Mailer, and Tom Wolfe, while also invoking figures like Nikola Tesla, James Webb, Batman and Ronald Reagan. Organised topographically, according to how missile technology manifests itself differently in particular locations, Rocket States's geographical targets are Colorado, Kansas, Cape Canaveral and New York, variously titled 'Excavation', 'Preservation', 'Evacuation' and 'Transmission'. It advances through these states roughly chronologically, beginning in the late 1940s and early 1950s and coming to an end in the first part of the 21st century. Collignon's argument is concerned with identifying the recurring figures and fantasies of the Cold War: the dome or parabola as sheltering techno-form; the fictions of total security adapting to constantly changing targeting strategies; gadget love; closed, freezing worlds. As such, Rocket States analyses by what processes the Cold War is frequently literalised in its weapons installations and how these facilities, in turn, shape dreams of containment, survival, escape and techno-supremacy"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 125-176) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: Introduction: Rise of the Machines (Nuclear) Enclosures; title: Excavation: Colorado; title: Masks Batteries in the Earth Gold, Dust; title: Preservation: Kansas; title: Bright/EMPTINESS The 98th Meridian Feed Lots ICBM, The Beginning The Cult of Future Death; title: Evacuation: Cape Canaveral; title: Report from An Obscure Planet; title: Vorrichtung für die Isolierung; title: Terminal Designs; title: Transmission: New York; title: Steel Machines; title: Totalizing eyes; title: Our Own Little Deterrent; title: Air Death; title: Mobilization: un/endings.