Since the dawn of written language (maybe even before, who knows), humanity has been obsessed with the idea that human existence will eventually end collectively with a bang and lots of noise. Perhaps we simply cannot exist without a narrative arc of suspense. Leaving aside Ursula K. LeGuin's carrier bag theory and many a literary marvel (such as House of Leaves or Ship of Theseus), it usually consists of a beginning, a middle and an end. There are no limits to the imagination when it comes to total extinction, be it death by impact, death by machine, death by social collapse, death by bomb, death by pandemic or death by climate change. Of course, this provides plenty of ideas for cultural creators, such as a variety of films, music, theater or books, books and even more books. Let's start with the end: Rumaan Alam's “Leave the World Behind” gives us a very subtle and quiet creeping feeling. If you want to be pushed face-down into doom, turn to the classics “The Day of the Triffids” by John Wyndham (Death by Flora) and - particularly impressive - the alien invasion in H. G. Wells' “War of the Worlds”. Here, gigantic Martian creatures use heat rays to pulverize everything within a radius of one kilometer. What's an even better way to pulverize everything? Right, just drop the bomb. If you like dry humor, run straight to Kurt Vonnegut. But keep in mind, “Cat's Cradle”, “A Man Without a Country” and “Slaughterhouse-five”, will leave you with the strange feeling of having laughter stuck in your throat. Absolutely awful is “All the Fiends in Hell” by Adam L. G. Nevill. I'm talking about destruction on a biblical scale. It's not called alien-HORROR for nothing and is not for the faint-hearted. Speaking of the Bible, in J. G. Ballard's “The Drowned World” we get to watch a few survivors go mad while office buildings rise out of Jurassic forests. Absolutely fantastically written, absolutely uncomfortable, absolute recommendation. However, authors almost prefer to reminisce about the “what after?” rather than the bang itself.
In “The Doloriad” by Missouri Williams, we follow a third-generation incestuous family on the outskirts of an extinct town in the abysmal descent into psychological destruction. And Stephen King's “The Stand” revives the age-old battle between good and evil after a pandemic (including the trashcanman and a bomb) and in most apocalypses Zombies limp around here and there anyway. Zombies, but in a completely different way than usual: “It lasts forever and then it's over” by Anne de Marcken. It doesn't always have to be blood, endless suffering and tears, because what is the ability that makes us people as indestructible as cockroaches? Exactly, resilience and the ability for HOPE. Octavia Butler shows us this through Lauren in “Parable of the Sower”, who keeps holding on to dignity and humanity even under the most impossible circumstances. “The Ministry for the Future” by Kim Stanley Robinson should be on every curriculum for young and old and ends this text with a smile and warmth.
If you want to find out more about why we are so incredibly preoccupied with the question of the end, pick up Dorian Lynskey's “Everything Must Go”. Tom and I ate our way through it in no time at all and if we weren't annoying each other with it, then everyone around us - that's how much the book bangs! And even if it sounds strange: somehow you feel better afterwards?
I'm off to explode somewhere else and wish you a wonderful summer's day,
yours Esther from Otherland.
