The poetics of an empty city. Urban landscapes in catastrophic science fiction

Post-apocalyptic novel – a catastrophic branch of science fiction devoted to the vision of civilization ruined by some sort of a cataclysm – managed to form a separate poetics of space creation. Images of the presented world depend on the psychological shape of the heroes who are directly exposed to the extreme boundary experience. When picturing the landscapes of desolated metropolises, the authors use solutions typical for horror and adventure novels, the ex- and impressionistic traditions as well as techniques typical for grotesque and naturalism. By extending the paths typical for science fiction, the post-apocalyptic novel moves away from the main movement and forms a separate convention of the description. The author of the article tries to shed some light on its assumptions by providing numerous examples of urban landscapes