Awaiting Apocalypse

By Paul E. Corcoran

Subjects: Apocalyptic literature, End of the world, historical endings, History and criticism, historiography

Description: The book examines the 'approach' of the year 2000 as reflected in popular culture, the mass media and in scholarly literature. Why are 'endings' anticipated with a fascination bordering on a fatal attraction to the idea of apocalypse? The book surveys concepts of time in science, religion, literary works and historiography. It argues that the idea of time, both imagined and experienced, is a critical element in how we endow our lives with meaning. The meaning of a story - dramatic or real, personal or political - depends greatly upon how it ends. Over the centuries the 'empire of time' has been conceived as cyclical or linear, and symbolised by cosmologies, calendars and political dynasties. The book concludes with a 'metaphysics for the meantime,' exploring the idea of waiting: what it means, and its relation to our sense of freedom and obligation.