APOCALYPTIC VISIONS: LITERAL, METAPHORIC, TRANSFORMATIVE (Spring 2012; Volume 3, Issue 2)

Welcome to our Spring 2012 issue (Volume 3, Issue 2), wherein we explore the historically pervasive idea of the apocalypse.

Apocalyptic prophecies, visions of destruction and fantasies of the “end times,” and futurist narratives have a long history. Whether it is ideas of apocalypse, millennial social movements, the end of days predicted in the book of Revelations, Y2K, or Mayan predictions of the end of the world in 2012, the trope of “end days” is a persistent and recurrent fascination in world culture. Ubiquitous representations of “the end” present what are sometimes vast differences among these ideas in terms of what happens in the aftermath. The predictions and expectations of a cataclysmic finality to existence and the material world is a predominant theme. How should we view these apocalyptic visions? Are they to be read literally as the actual end of the world? Are they to be read as metaphoric, meant to imply and symbolize revelation for our world? Are they to be read as opportunities meant to offer change and redemption for our world? For that matter, how might the concept of “the world” be viewed: our actual planet earth, the societies in which we live, the different communities we inhabit, material, theoretical, virtual, social, literary? How does technology impact our concept of both “the world” and the “end of the world”? How do all these concepts affect the teaching of English studies in an increasingly fragmented, virtual, global, and “headed for the end” world?

Within this issue you will read fascinating scholarly articles that deal with apocalyptic visions within film, literature, and music, as well as our own everyday existence.

Also included is a poem by Daniel Klawitter, and book reviews by Mimosa Stephenson and Alan Oak - all of them addressing some aspect of this issue's theme.

With this issue, we are experimenting with a new organization and style. We have included a table of contents, page numbers for all of the included works, and stylistic embellishments meant to enhance your reading experience. We hope you like our new look!

Enjoy the issue and please feel free to post comments about any of the pieces published in this issue.

The Editors
The Journal of South Texas English Studies

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Table of Contents 3.2 (Spring 2012)

Contributor Biographies


Scholarly Articles

“Shuffling Through the Ash, Each the Other’s World Entire”: Cormac McCarthy’s The Road in the Wake of 9/11.” By: Heidi Stoffer

“Enlightenment Revelations: Shakers’ Spiritual Sense.” By: Dr. Robin M. Runia

“Sound of the Apocalypse.” By: Steen Christiansen

“Terminating the Technopocalypse in James Cameron’s Terminator Films.” By: Dr. Randy Laist

“The Endgame of The Road.” By: Drs. John Joseph Hess and Julieann Veronica Ulin


Book Reviews

Review of Then by Julie Myerson. By: Dr. Mimosa Stephenson

Review of Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. By: Alan Oak


Creative Works

“Repent!” By: Rev. Daniel Klawitter