Reading Environmental Apocalypse
in J.-H. Rosny Aîné’s
Terrestrial Texts
Louise Lyle
Abstract: Technological advances in exploiting the earth’s resources
were not uncritically welcomed by all. This chapter offers an analysis
of J.-H. Rosny Aîné’s development of the notion of evolutionary narratives inscribed upon the terrestrial text of the planet itself, through
which the author may be seen to anticipate an “apocalyptic environmentalist” perspective on mankind’s increasingly exhaustive exploitation of the Earth.
Belgian brothers Joseph-Henri (1856-1940) and Séraphin-Justin
(1859-1948) Boëx began their long and prolific literary careers under
the collective pseudonym of J.-H. Rosny in the 1880s. Writing first
together, then individually under the respective pseudonyms of J.-H.
Rosny Aîné and J.-H. Rosny Jeune, they produced an extensive œuvre
comprising poetry, theatre, press articles, essays and works of scientific popularization. It is, however, for their novels and short stories,
falling variously into the realist, philosophical and fantastical genres,
1
that they are best remembered nowadays. In this chapter, I will consider J.-H. Rosny Aîné’s
2 development of the concept of the earth in
certain of these latter works as a kind of text in which mankind’s
apocalyptic destiny may be read.
___________________________
1 Gérard A. Jaeger, Approche critique et bibliographique des frères Rosny
(Sherbrooke: Éditions Naaman, 1986), p. 11.
2 For brevity, the elder of the brothers, whose works are the focus of this chapter, will
hereafter be denoted simply as Rosny.
in J.-H. Rosny Aîné’s
Terrestrial Texts
Louise Lyle
Abstract: Technological advances in exploiting the earth’s resources
were not uncritically welcomed by all. This chapter offers an analysis
of J.-H. Rosny Aîné’s development of the notion of evolutionary narratives inscribed upon the terrestrial text of the planet itself, through
which the author may be seen to anticipate an “apocalyptic environmentalist” perspective on mankind’s increasingly exhaustive exploitation of the Earth.
Belgian brothers Joseph-Henri (1856-1940) and Séraphin-Justin
(1859-1948) Boëx began their long and prolific literary careers under
the collective pseudonym of J.-H. Rosny in the 1880s. Writing first
together, then individually under the respective pseudonyms of J.-H.
Rosny Aîné and J.-H. Rosny Jeune, they produced an extensive œuvre
comprising poetry, theatre, press articles, essays and works of scientific popularization. It is, however, for their novels and short stories,
falling variously into the realist, philosophical and fantastical genres,
1
that they are best remembered nowadays. In this chapter, I will consider J.-H. Rosny Aîné’s
2 development of the concept of the earth in
certain of these latter works as a kind of text in which mankind’s
apocalyptic destiny may be read.
___________________________
1 Gérard A. Jaeger, Approche critique et bibliographique des frères Rosny
(Sherbrooke: Éditions Naaman, 1986), p. 11.
2 For brevity, the elder of the brothers, whose works are the focus of this chapter, will
hereafter be denoted simply as Rosny.