Reading Environmental Apocalypse in J.-H. Rosny Aîné
231
For the ferromagnétaux exist as the embodiment of human industrial society’s responsibility in relation to ecological destruction, as
Rosny explains in the following:
On commença à percevoir l’existence du règne ferromagnétique au déclin de l’âge
radioactif. C’étaient de bizarres taches violettes sur les fer humains, c’est-à-dire sur
les fers et les composés des fers qui ont été modifiés par l’usage industriel. Le
phénomène n’apparut que sur des produits qui avaient maintes fois resservi: jamais
l’on ne découvrit de taches ferromagnétiques sur des fers sauvages. Le nouveau
règne n’a donc pu naître que grâce au milieu humain. (author’s emphasis, p. 141)
Human industrialization is thus explicitly blamed for the creation of
these sinister beings, which, although initially manageable in their restricted numbers, gradually become a force to be reckoned with.
Composed entirely of mineral resources repeatedly corrupted by industrial use, the ferromagnétaux firstly defy human mastery, “ne se
prêt[ant] à aucune combinaison ni à aucun travail oriénté” (p. 143),
then reveal themselves as the chief living adversaries of the human
species. They are therefore the incarnation of planet earth’s revenge
on mankind, condemned for the recklessness of its ways, as Rosny,
evoking “une forme d’animisme”
22 similar to that observed in his prehistoric novels, explains: “Après trente mille ans de lutte, nos ancêtres
comprirent que le minéral, vaincu pendant des millions d’années par
la plante et la bête, prenait une revanche définitive” (p. 139). This revenge is shown to be decisive, as Targ, the last remaining member of
the human species, disdains suicide, preferring to surrender to the
predators who are the new masters of the Earth: “Ensuite, humblement, quelques parcelles de la dernière vie humaine entrèrent dans la
Vie Nouvelle” (p. 220).
These closing lines acknowledge the necessary cyclicity of
endings and beginnings in the extinction of mankind and the simultaneous rise to supremacy of new species, recalling, with a certain wry
optimism, one of the recurring themes of literary naturalism, with life
springing ceaselessly forth out of and death and decay. Rosny’s relative lack of sentimentality over the final disappearance of the human
race may also, however, indicate his intuition of a viewpoint nowadays known as biocentric inhumanism, associated with the Deep
Ecology school of thought. Greg Garrard defines “mainstream envi___________________________
22 Bulliard, L’enjeu des origines, p. 46.
231
For the ferromagnétaux exist as the embodiment of human industrial society’s responsibility in relation to ecological destruction, as
Rosny explains in the following:
On commença à percevoir l’existence du règne ferromagnétique au déclin de l’âge
radioactif. C’étaient de bizarres taches violettes sur les fer humains, c’est-à-dire sur
les fers et les composés des fers qui ont été modifiés par l’usage industriel. Le
phénomène n’apparut que sur des produits qui avaient maintes fois resservi: jamais
l’on ne découvrit de taches ferromagnétiques sur des fers sauvages. Le nouveau
règne n’a donc pu naître que grâce au milieu humain. (author’s emphasis, p. 141)
Human industrialization is thus explicitly blamed for the creation of
these sinister beings, which, although initially manageable in their restricted numbers, gradually become a force to be reckoned with.
Composed entirely of mineral resources repeatedly corrupted by industrial use, the ferromagnétaux firstly defy human mastery, “ne se
prêt[ant] à aucune combinaison ni à aucun travail oriénté” (p. 143),
then reveal themselves as the chief living adversaries of the human
species. They are therefore the incarnation of planet earth’s revenge
on mankind, condemned for the recklessness of its ways, as Rosny,
evoking “une forme d’animisme”
22 similar to that observed in his prehistoric novels, explains: “Après trente mille ans de lutte, nos ancêtres
comprirent que le minéral, vaincu pendant des millions d’années par
la plante et la bête, prenait une revanche définitive” (p. 139). This revenge is shown to be decisive, as Targ, the last remaining member of
the human species, disdains suicide, preferring to surrender to the
predators who are the new masters of the Earth: “Ensuite, humblement, quelques parcelles de la dernière vie humaine entrèrent dans la
Vie Nouvelle” (p. 220).
These closing lines acknowledge the necessary cyclicity of
endings and beginnings in the extinction of mankind and the simultaneous rise to supremacy of new species, recalling, with a certain wry
optimism, one of the recurring themes of literary naturalism, with life
springing ceaselessly forth out of and death and decay. Rosny’s relative lack of sentimentality over the final disappearance of the human
race may also, however, indicate his intuition of a viewpoint nowadays known as biocentric inhumanism, associated with the Deep
Ecology school of thought. Greg Garrard defines “mainstream envi___________________________
22 Bulliard, L’enjeu des origines, p. 46.