Charting trends in apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction

THE apocalypse has proved fertile ground for writers of popular fiction. In 'The Day of the Triffids' (1951), John Wyndham saw mankind's end hastened by perambulating carnivorous plants; Stephen King made a case for murderous mobile phones in 'Cell' (2006). Readers are invited time and again to imagine a world devastated by natural disaster, destroyed by radiation or wracked by plague.The Doomsday Clock is another touchstone of the geopolitical mood. A countdown to global catastrophe devised by scientists in 1947 in the wake of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was conceived as an analogy for the threat of global nuclear war. The clock started at seven minutes to midnight, with midnight symbolising the end of life as we know it. The hands have been adjusted 22 times, fluctuating between two and 17 minutes to midnight. Since 2007, it has reflected global challenges more generally, encompassing climate change and artificial intelligence as well as nuclear war.Over the course of the clock's 70-year history, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic literature has seen waves of popularity; the chart below* maps them against each other. Each time the hands edge closer...Continue reading
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