''Scorch Atlas: A Belated Primer'' is a 2009 short story collection written by

Blake Butler John David Blake Butler (22 October 1924 – 15 April 1981) was an English actor best known for his role as the lecherous chief librarian Mr. Wainwright during the first and third series of ''Last of the Summer Wine'' in 1973 and 1976 respect ...

and published by Featherproof Books. It is a work of

post-apocalyptic fiction Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

with a despairing outlook.

Background and publication

is the author of several books, including ''Ever'' (2009), ''Nothing: A Portrait of Insomnia'' (2011), and ''There Is No Year'' (2011). Featherproof Books published Butler's ''Scorch Atlas'' in 2009, a 188-page collection of 13 short stories in the

genre. The book is designed to appear damaged; one reviewer writes that "the thing seems charred ..splattered with blood and ink".

Reception

Literary critic Lee Quinby writes that although ''Scorch Atlas'' presents a powerful image of post-apocalyptic life, its descriptions are so despairing that readers may experience "boredom in the face of repeated anguish". Anne-Laurre Tissut, a scholar of American literature, writes that the text "absorbs the reader" through its language and its focus on the body. Tissut particularly comments on the representation of the body in "Television Milk", writing that in Butler's writing, "the essence of life is summed up here". Reviewer Nina MacLaughlin writes that the essential point of the novel is not "narrative arc or character development" but the accumulation of particular images and words.

References

Citations

Works cited

* * * {{refend 2012 short story collections Post-apocalyptic short story collections