A Nietzschean Inquiry Into John Christopher's Empty World

Abstract

John Christopher's Empty World (1977) is an apocalyptic novel which depicts a fatal pandemic through the eyes of adolescent children. In specific, the story is presented through the perspective of fifteen-year-old Neil Miller who loses his family and heads off to the streets of London to seek company in his quest for survival in a desolated city. Neil finally meets Lucy and Billie, two girls his age and the children then decide to move in together. This study aims to analyse Christopher's Empty World from a philosophical, in particular, Nietzschean point of view. Friedrich Nietzsche is a philosopher who had an immense impact in all areas of the social sciences and the humanities. This article thereby discusses three Nietzschean doctrines: the will to power, the eternal recurrence and amor fati. All these three notions are interrelated in Nietzsche's cosmological theory and his metaphysical hypothesis. Thus, the ultimate purpose of this article is to reveal how and to what extent Nietzschean doctrines are manifested in John Christopher's Empty World. These manifestations will be discussed with relevant references to the text in association with the setting and prevalent themes of the novel.