After the Post-apocalypse: Thomas von Steinaecker's dystopian Novel "The Defence of Paradise" (2016)

Thomas von Steinaecker's novel Die Verteidigung des Paradieses takes up literary catastrophe narratives, in particular scenarios about the last human beings on Earth and develops them further by describing social continuities before and after the catastrophe. Instead of the end of the world the novel depicts a dystopian society with unmistakable roots in the present. Writing about catastrophe is both plot element and metanarrative about the power of culture in the face of a fundamental threat.