We can define “post-apocalyptic fiction” as a subset of apocalyptic fiction that brings together texts which allude to or describe the catastrophe in detail, but whose focus is on what happens in the aftermath, and in particular on the construction of a new society. Contemporary post-apocalyptic imagery is subtended by a peculiar and pervasive thematic-narrative form, that is to say, in the terms of Joseph Courtés, the peculiar narrative structure that underlies any theme, which is responsible for taking charge of the figurative elements to endow them with meaning. Built around a series of oppositions that support the construction of the text, it refers to the clash between two universes of values: the restoration of the former pre-apocalyptic world or the foundation of a new, more just society, sometimes egalitarian and libertarian. Although this thematic-narrative form can be traced back to the 19th century, its origins are rooted in antiquity, and interweave two different forms of apocalyptic narration: the palingenetic one, first described by Zeno of Citium, is based on a circular conception of time and history; the eschatological, linear one instead is typical of Judeo-Christian apocalyptic narratives. After having structurally defined the afore-mentioned thematic-narrative form and investigated its origins, our paper will analyse how it is figuratively expressed in the contemporary fiction that deals with climate change, the so-called "Climate Fiction".