{"product_id":"writing-during-the-apocalypse","title":"Writing During the Apocalypse","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAll of American literature is a tragedy. What we’re living through now isn’t a tragedy, however \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e– \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eit’s a horror novel. W\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ehy bother writing when the world’s on fire?   \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRising authoritarianism. Covid. Inflation. Wealth disparity. War. Climate change. While every time period is marked by apocalyptic fears, it certainly seems like our current anxieties aren’t ill placed. And yet, art and literature persist. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn captivating and culturally savvy prose, Ed Simon grapples with the notion that writers and their work ought to distract readers from the dire situation we face in these fetid days of the Anthropocene. He also addresses the wider question of what it's like to write during what could be the last decades of human civilization, arguing that to craft imaginative spaces through the magic of words isn’t superfluous. Instead it exists at the core of human experience – as it always has and always will. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExamining creativity as it has manifested in similarly dire circumstances in human history – in a broad range of authors and texts, such as the \u003ci\u003eBible\u003c\/i\u003e, Boccaccio’s \u003ci\u003eDecameron, \u003c\/i\u003eVoltaire\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003eOctavia Butler’s \u003ci\u003eParable of the Sower\u003c\/i\u003e, and Stephen King’s \u003ci\u003eThe Stand\u003c\/i\u003e – \u003ci\u003eWriting During the Apocalypse \u003c\/i\u003eeschews the easy defeatism of nihilism. Instead, it offers a hopeful perspective on the various ways that literary expression can endow a meaningless world with meaning and generate a spark in the darkness. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the infamous four horsemen as its guide, \u003ci\u003eWriting During the Apocalypse \u003c\/i\u003ehonors the literary life even during the end of the world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing Plc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55702854107480,"sku":"9798765123218","price":22.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9798765123218_1944649f-37a5-4f5a-8921-4ad79e6ede2d.jpg?v=1771983033","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/writing-during-the-apocalypse","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}