Reading Environmental Apocalypse in J.-H. Rosny Aîné
229
prey with their “immenses ailes argentines, glacées d’améthyste” (p.
123), seems almost to suggest their direct emergence from the harsh
rocky surfaces of their native environment.
The effects of increasingly hostile environmental conditions
are not only, however, apparent in the physical constitution of the survivors, but are also seen to be instrumental in influencing their collective psychology. Experiencing, in common with the Martian Tripèdes
of Les Navigateurs de l’infini, a gradual loss of the will to live and a
growing sense of apathy in relation to their impending end, the embattled Earth-dwellers exist in “un état de résignation douce, triste et très
passive. L’esprit de création s’est éteint…” (p. 140). The generalized
indifference with which the majority of the human population comes
to be afflicted is, moreover, accompanied by the espousal of the kind
of paganistic beliefs characteristic of early human civilizations. As
Rosny explains:
Une sorte de religion est née, sans culte, sans rites: la crainte et le respect du minéral.
Les Derniers Hommes attribuent à la planète une volonté lente et irrésistible.
D’abord favorable aux règnes qui naissent d’elle, la terre leur laisse prendre une
grande puissance. L’heure mystérieuse où elle les condamne est aussi celle où elle
favorise des règnes nouveaux. (p. 140)
This reversion to irrationalism represents a clear retrograde
step for an organism characterized by its capacity to reason which is
every bit as significant in relation to the generalized decline of the
human species as the acute demographic shrinkage noted above. Yet
while humanity is shown to be approaching the end of its reign on
earth, an alternative species, even more closely related to the host environment than the remaining human and avian populations, is clearly
in its ascendancy. It is in relation to the rise to power of humanity’s
successors that the Darwinian and Lamarckian strands of evolutionary
thought evoked by Rosny converge most clearly. The alternative narrative of the earth which emerges may, in the light of modern ecological thought, be read as a clear warning about the nature of our bequest
to future generations.
229
prey with their “immenses ailes argentines, glacées d’améthyste” (p.
123), seems almost to suggest their direct emergence from the harsh
rocky surfaces of their native environment.
The effects of increasingly hostile environmental conditions
are not only, however, apparent in the physical constitution of the survivors, but are also seen to be instrumental in influencing their collective psychology. Experiencing, in common with the Martian Tripèdes
of Les Navigateurs de l’infini, a gradual loss of the will to live and a
growing sense of apathy in relation to their impending end, the embattled Earth-dwellers exist in “un état de résignation douce, triste et très
passive. L’esprit de création s’est éteint…” (p. 140). The generalized
indifference with which the majority of the human population comes
to be afflicted is, moreover, accompanied by the espousal of the kind
of paganistic beliefs characteristic of early human civilizations. As
Rosny explains:
Une sorte de religion est née, sans culte, sans rites: la crainte et le respect du minéral.
Les Derniers Hommes attribuent à la planète une volonté lente et irrésistible.
D’abord favorable aux règnes qui naissent d’elle, la terre leur laisse prendre une
grande puissance. L’heure mystérieuse où elle les condamne est aussi celle où elle
favorise des règnes nouveaux. (p. 140)
This reversion to irrationalism represents a clear retrograde
step for an organism characterized by its capacity to reason which is
every bit as significant in relation to the generalized decline of the
human species as the acute demographic shrinkage noted above. Yet
while humanity is shown to be approaching the end of its reign on
earth, an alternative species, even more closely related to the host environment than the remaining human and avian populations, is clearly
in its ascendancy. It is in relation to the rise to power of humanity’s
successors that the Darwinian and Lamarckian strands of evolutionary
thought evoked by Rosny converge most clearly. The alternative narrative of the earth which emerges may, in the light of modern ecological thought, be read as a clear warning about the nature of our bequest
to future generations.