Apocalyptic fiction is a genre of literature, popular from the 1930s to the 1980s, in which the world ends at some point or another, usually through human action. (The actual apocalypse may happen either instantaneously, or gradually, depending on the genre. In some apocalyptic narratives, the world ends in the distant past, while in others it ends in the future.) "Apocalyptic" is a metaphor used for any scenario which forecasts some totalizing social, economic, or environmental catastrophe. The original and best-known modern genre of science fiction, also often called a fictional work of speculative fiction, speculations about the possibilities of science or the state of the future with the assumption that the results of science are already becoming common knowledge (or alternatively fictionally possible through extrapolations from current trends). It envisions possible but not necessarily probable or certain events in the past, present or future. The definition of "science fiction" has changed over time with the development of science and the writing of science fiction itself. Science fiction may have important elements of science fantasy or paranormal fiction, but it is defined by its use of scientific or pseudo-scientific elements that are usually more "fictional" than "scientific", and usually used to create a setting of a "future" where the normal rules of physical, biological, or social laws do not apply. The stories are often about life and social themes, especially those of a revolutionary or disruptive nature. Classic fictional apocalyptic works and writers include: The Book of Revelation (1st century AD), The Epic of Gilgamesh (13th century BC), The Gesta Romanorum (12th century), The Divine Comedy (14th century), Vathek (1786) by William Beckford, The Last Man by Mary Shelley (1826), The Martyrdom of Man (1881) by John F. Weiss, Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley, The Day of the Triffids (1951) by John Wyndham, The Time Machine (1895) by H.G. Wells and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell. While science fiction generally involves the creation of new science or technology and often involves a fantastic setting, apocalyptic fiction most often involves the destruction of present human society or major life forms. These authors and writings have been influential on writers of science fiction, despite a history of resistance. Apocalyptic literature is almost always dystopian in style, although there are utopian apocalypses and post-apocalyptic ones, particularly after natural disasters. A story like that is an example of the genre of doomsday fiction (or "world destruction stories"). Apocalypse literature has a history as a distinct genre. One of the earliest written narratives from the period around 1000 BCE was The Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the goddess Ishtar sends a great flood to destroy humanity, in order to make the human race worship her as a god (this narrative inspired the similar "Ragnarok" theme in the Icelandic Viking myth of Norse mythology). In his book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (1998), Max Brooks discusses the history of this idea, and relates that he spent much of his youth at summer camps in and around the Catskill Mountains in New York, where there were signs in campgrounds promoting "God's Plan" and "Judgment Day," as well as signs advertising the fact that Bibles were for sale. Apocalyptic visions are quite common, especially in apocalyptic forms of religious or political beliefs. Many of the apocalyptic scenarios were intended to be of a world-altering nature, such as the Book of Revelation. There are even historical instances of mass movements based around religiously-founded end-of-the-world scenarios. The followers of Shoko Asahara, the founder of the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult, and the more mainstream Branch Davidian religious sect both believed in a version of such an end-of-the-world scenario. The Branch Davidians were the followers of David Koresh, a man who predicted that God would return to the Earth in the late 1980s, and who had predicted a devastating nuclear war. A more recent fictional example is the Left Behind book series, in which an unspecified Great Tribulation was described in a bestseller series of books by the authors of the Left Behind series; each book is called a "Left Behind". In fiction The most notable aspect of apocalyptic fiction is that it includes both a vision of the future and its destruction, and that this vision is communicated through a religious channel. The visions in which the world ends are usually very religious and usually include events such as the revelation of God, judgement, apocalypses, cataclysms, and rebirth, among other themes. The vision of the world being destroyed is usually due to some human wrongdoing such as heresy, war, or rebellion. A common genre of apocalyptic fiction is science fiction or fantasy. The science fiction genre focuses on the technological aspects of such a vision: it often imagines the future and its destruction through technological factors such as nuclear weapons, space travel, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence. This genre may focus on the effects of such occurrences in a manner which resembles religious awe and/or fear. See also Apocalypticism Post-apocalyptic science fiction The End of Days, 1990 film about end-of-the-world scenario The Last War (2007 book) Nuclear holocaust Zombie apocalypse References External links The Future and Its Destruction — An Extensive Research Project Category:Apocalyptic fiction Category:Fiction about the end of the world Category:Fiction about religion Category:Science fiction themes Category:Literary genres