Apocalyptic Fiction and Pandemics
Why is the destruction of the world so fascinating?
Words by Robert Dotson
Imagine that one moment you are living your everyday life and then a second later the world as you know it changes forever. That is how many fiction pieces of the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic genre begin, focusing on a story that takes place in a world so different from our own that it is alien to us. The apocalyptic genre can often be identified by a narrator or a point of view character with a pessimistic view of the apocalyptic world in which the narrative takes place. The end of the world in this genre can come from a variety of means, from nuclear armageddon to a supernatural event inspired by Judeo-Christian tradition.
The post-apocalyptic genre is very similar, since stories of this genre take place in dark versions of the future that come after the end of the world. There is typically a protagonist or group of characters that try to survive in the new world or bring back something that was lost in the apocalypse, be it a way of life or a needed resource to keep the group or revive society.
Over the last couple of months, that novel coronavirus pandemic has led more people to engage with stories set in apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic worlds. These two fictional genres have seen a significant rise in popularity, because people aren’t sure of what is happening and what the future will look like. News about the state of the pandemic is confusing, with some sources saying that there might be a vaccine soon, while others say cases will spike again. The changes that might come from this pandemic mirror the ones in post-apocalyptic fiction stories.
Stephen King’s Under the Dome focuses on the residents of a small town in Main that find themselves inside an indestructible dome. This story is similar to our world today, with the isolation that people have to endure as a result of social distancing and quarantining in their homes. Richard Matheson’s novel, I Am Legend, depicts a post-apocalyptic world in which Robert Neville is the only man alive in a world of vampires, which connects with the pandemic due to the rising number of people that have become infected by Covid-19, the fear of infection, and the desire for survival. Samuel Youd, also known as John Christopher, wrote the novel Empty World, a story in which the main protagonist, Neil, survives a deadly plague that wiped out thousands in the first few months. The narrative is then plunged into a world where Neil’s only companion is solitude. This novel is particularly relevant because this virus plagues the elderly much more than the younger population. In the emptiness of the world, the atmosphere of suspicion and uncertainty reigns true.
Authors and writers are supposedly attracted to these types of stories because of the open white canvas that presents itself, allowing the world to be changed because of a single event. The way that the author hooks the reader with the story is by making them think of how the world will end. Thinking that the world-as-we-know-it is ending is a thought many people often have. We don’t know what the world will be like when we die, and we often like to imagine what it could be. For instance, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road depicts a world that ended through a mysterious global fire and now all that remains is a charcoaled world. This is one of the many ways that the world could end and both authors and readers are intrigued by the possibilities. The world of possibilities that this genre brings allows the writer to change the world to suit his or her story without being constrained by the present world.
Some would say that knowing the world could end and bring about a new one is what makes people so intrigued by these pieces of fiction. In other cases, these stories can be used as a brighter look on a somber situation, as a way of saying that even though the world isn’t as good of a place as people would hope for, there is still light at the end of the tunnel.
