shing a dialogue he gives the plutonium almost human characteristics. It is something, and is near us he breadth of the planet, how long before your radiance speeds blight and death to sentient beings. (703) In putting his nuclear fears and worries on the table, and saying that these things have pertinence to us because they affect how we live our lives and the entire the universe, Ginsberg is showing how intrigued he is with plutonium in this poem. By the time Ginsberg was publishing these poems in late 1978, post war literature had evolved immensely. At first people had no idea about the bomb and its capabilities. Then, as more information came out about what the bomb could do, they began to began to start to live in real fear of nuclear weapons. The power of it, a creation by man that could destroy the world, that was terrifying. Then some artists and writers began to see the absurdity of it all. They saw that we were under control by people we did not, or should not, trust, and were a constant state of nuclear Gioielli 11fear. So they satirized the system unmercifully, and were very apocalyptic in their tone. But then things evolved from these narrow minded viewpoints, and people began to envision nuclear weapons in the context of our world and our lives. The atomic bomb and nuclear proliferation affected all facets of our lifestyle, including what we read. Literature is a reflection of a countryصs culture and feelings. And literature affected Americans curiosity, horror, anxiety, cynicism and hope concerning nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons raised questions that no one had dare ever asked before, and had given them answers that they were afraid to hear. They have made us think about our place in the universe, and what it all means. WorksCited Bartter, Martha A. The Way to Ground Zero. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988. Dewey, Joseph. In a Dark Time. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 1990.Dr. Strangelove. Dir. Stanley Kub...
