ABSTRACT
Broadly speaking, nuclear critics were concerned with “the applicability of the human potentiality for nuclear self-destruction to the study of human cultural myths, structures, and artefacts” (Scheick 1990: 4), and in particular with critical theory’s engagement with the threat of nuclear extinction. In the mid-1980s, as critical theory consolidated its position in Western academic institutions, nuclear critics published a series of manifestos, editorials, and articles in special issues of the journals Diacritics (1984), Science Fiction Studies (1986), and PLL: Papers on Language & Literature (1990). Simultaneously, popular cultural depictions of nuclear apocalypse and postapocalyptic dystopias appeared in signicant numbers, including novels (David Brin’s The Postman (1985), Whitley Strieber and James W. Kunetka’s Warday and the Journey Onward (1984)), lms (The Terminator (Cameron 1984), Def-Con 4 (Donovan 1985)), television movies (The Day After (Meyer 1983), Threads (Jackson 1984)), and comics (the 25-part Judge Dredd “Apocalypse War” story in 2000 A.D. (1982)). This currency provided nuclear criticism, envisaged as a contribution to nuclear disarmament, with a sense of urgency and importance.
