Global warming. Extinction. Social and moral breakdown. . . . Right now, our culture is rife with a pervasive unease about the state of humankind and its future. For many, this despair is defined by millennialism, the superstitious notion that our end times coincide with the dawning of the twenty-first century. Nonsense, scoff the educated, the intelligentsia. Literal interpretation of biblical prophecy is nave, out-dated, foolish.
Now in this provocative new work, the distinguished critic, scholar, author, and editor of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Science Fiction poses a shocking argument. The millennialists may be right. Yes, the date is arbitrary, John Clute acknowledges. But the end times--the destruction of the world as we know it--is real and is happening right now. Apocalyptic fear and trembling accurately reflect our profound unease as the rate of change careens past all previous limits.
Drawing on the pervasive icons of pop culture and the sweeping themes of literature, art, religion, and philosophy produced during the last millennium, Clute cleverly interweaves word and image to bring his theory vividly into focus. Here are the visions of artists including Albrecht Drer and Hieronymus Bosch brought together with verses from Shakespeare and William Blake, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen; here are images of humanity's spiritual touch-stones including Stonehenge, Tibetan prayer wheels, and the Tarot, interspersed with selections from Kurt Vonnegut, D. H. Lawrence, W. B. Yeats, and other intellectual luminaries.
Together with Clute's own text, these written and visual touchstones present a clear vision of the evolution of humankind, offering information and wisdom to help steer us away from the shoals of self-destruction. The coming years need not be chaotic and destructive, but can become a time of rebirth and rejuvenation, Clute tells us. But unless we change our ways, it will become the nightmare that haunts our waking dreams; truly, the end of the world. The choice is ours. . . .
Rich and compelling, The Book of End Times is a guide from the known to the unknown, from what we have been to what we may be. Anyone concerned with their personal destiny--and the fate of the world--cannot afford to miss this timely, thoughtful, and unshakably convincing exploration of past, present, and future, from one of the most acclaimed thinkers of our time.
