Scenes from the Decline and Fall of the American Empire

At their zenith, empires become haunted by images of their inevitable demise. This article examines historical theories of imperial decline, as exemplified by the works of Edward Gibbon, C-F Volney and Oswald Spengler, and suggests a recurring concern with 'revolutionary orientalism' in su...

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Auteur principal:	Darryl Jones
Format:	article
Langue:	EN
Publié:	University of Edinburgh 2007
Sujets:	Fine Arts N Language and Literature P
Accès en ligne:	https://doaj.org/article/73b9a947426e40c099842bc3d2ebf44f
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:73b9a947426e40c099842bc3d2ebf44f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:73b9a947426e40c099842bc3d2ebf44f2021-11-23T09:46:01ZScenes from the Decline and Fall of the American Empire1749-9771https://doaj.org/article/73b9a947426e40c099842bc3d2ebf44f2007-12-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.forumjournal.org/article/view/584https://doaj.org/toc/1749-9771At their zenith, empires become haunted by images of their inevitable demise. This article examines historical theories of imperial decline, as exemplified by the works of Edward Gibbon, C-F Volney and Oswald Spengler, and suggests a recurring concern with 'revolutionary orientalism' in such writings. The USA is currently in its late-imperial decadent phase, and much given in consequence to apocalyptic or catastrophic narratives. These are hardly new - the late-Victorian British Empire produced a large number of disaster fictions hardly less spectacular, with H G Wells foremost amongst his contemporary catastrophists - London is destroyed many hundreds of times in the period's fiction. The article closes with an analysis of 9/11 fictions and theories, and looks particularly at the novels of Don DeLillo and Jonathan Safran Foer.Darryl JonesUniversity of EdinburgharticleFine ArtsNLanguage and LiteraturePENForum, Iss 05, Pp 1-15 (2007)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Fine Arts N Language and Literature P
spellingShingle	Fine Arts N Language and Literature P Darryl Jones Scenes from the Decline and Fall of the American Empire
description	At their zenith, empires become haunted by images of their inevitable demise. This article examines historical theories of imperial decline, as exemplified by the works of Edward Gibbon, C-F Volney and Oswald Spengler, and suggests a recurring concern with 'revolutionary orientalism' in such writings. The USA is currently in its late-imperial decadent phase, and much given in consequence to apocalyptic or catastrophic narratives. These are hardly new - the late-Victorian British Empire produced a large number of disaster fictions hardly less spectacular, with H G Wells foremost amongst his contemporary catastrophists - London is destroyed many hundreds of times in the period's fiction. The article closes with an analysis of 9/11 fictions and theories, and looks particularly at the novels of Don DeLillo and Jonathan Safran Foer.
format	article
author	Darryl Jones
author_facet	Darryl Jones
author_sort	Darryl Jones
title	Scenes from the Decline and Fall of the American Empire
title_short	Scenes from the Decline and Fall of the American Empire
title_full	Scenes from the Decline and Fall of the American Empire
title_fullStr	Scenes from the Decline and Fall of the American Empire
title_full_unstemmed	Scenes from the Decline and Fall of the American Empire
title_sort	scenes from the decline and fall of the american empire
publisher	University of Edinburgh
publishDate	2007
url	https://doaj.org/article/73b9a947426e40c099842bc3d2ebf44f
work_keys_str_mv	AT darryljones scenesfromthedeclineandfalloftheamericanempire
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Scenes from the Decline and Fall of the American Empire

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