Apocalyptic Patterns in Twentieth-Century Fiction

Ten: Conclusion

225 C H A P T E R T E N Conclusion What conclusions can we draw from our study of these fictions of the ultimate conclusion? Each of the seven groups of apocalyptic novels suggests conclusions about the importance of literary genre, the significance of philosophical implications of apocalyptic narrative, and the possible future of apocalypse. The literature of apocalypse helps us to explore the meaning of ultimate issues by using the analogical human imagination to incorporate symbolically the human mind and emotions in narratives of the limits of human experience. In such narratives, readers search for a relationship between the inner dynamic “form” of the literary text and its final horizon or frame of reference. From our reading of these twenty novels, we find that these texts use a variety of genres to embody in a concrete and imaginative way human experiences of ultimacy. These genres can be summarized under six archetypal headings that are common to most literature of ultimacy: the journey, the cosmic battle, the marriage, the transformation story, the cosmic tree, and silence (Leigh, “Literature” 240–41). As we saw in chapter 2, these ancient archetypal plots appear in the apocalyptic literature of the Hebrew Scriptures and in the book of Revelation . Then we explored the journey archetype in the quest narratives of Percy, Pynchon, DeLillo, and Endo, with some of them taking the shape of a detective story or a search for a home. In Lewis and Hoban, we found modern expressions of the classic conflict of a cosmic battle, closely connected with twentieth-century science and with nuclear catastrophes. In Doris Lessing’s novels, as well as in some science fiction, we discerned variations of the mystical union or heavenly marriage symbolism found at the end of Revelation as well as in other religious apocalyptic traditions. In other science fiction novels, we discovered hints of transformation stories Leigh.indb 225 Leigh.indb 225 7/25/2008 9:31:42 AM 7/25/2008 9:31:42 AM 226 Apocalyptic Patterns in Twentieth-Century Fiction in which characters move from earthly experience toward a “new heaven and a new earth.” In a novel about dying by Updike and, more overtly, in the supernatural fictions of Charles Williams, we followed characters undergoing personal transformation and a sort of organic growth related to the imagery of the cosmic tree, the latter also appearing in Riddley Walker. In African-American writing, we found several of these archetypes, but most prominent was the earthly cosmic battle leading to political and social liberation and transformation. Finally, almost all the apocalyptic novels conclude with some sort of silence, whether about the ultimate state of the characters or the ultimate vision of the divine. This silence is most apparent in the fictional conclusions of Lewis, Lessing, Miller, Rushdie, and Endo, whether deriving from the unknowability of the future, the unimaginability of the afterlife, or the incomprehensibility of the divine. Throughout our study, as we reflected on these archetypes, we began to explore some of the philosophical implications of the apocalyptic narratives , all in relation to the four types of eschatology analyzed by John Davenport. In Walker Percy’s two apocalyptic novels, we discovered a quest for wholeness in the human person and society, but even more a quest for transcendence. This quest reached its high point in Thomas More’s life of sacramental communion with his wife and with the divine, as well as in concrete historical efforts to build a human community. As satires, these novels also critiqued static and disembodied forms of living for a transcendent purpose. As Christian in inspiration, Percy’s novels center on a life lived in freedom and self-surrender based on the incarnation and way of Christ. As eschatological, these novels emphasize the perennial character of the cosmic struggle for personal and spiritual transcendence, based on the virtues of vigilance and hope for an ultimate transformation, all as symbolized in the sacrament of marriage, a life of reconciliation, and a waiting for the ultimate resurrection and union. Although lacking the explicit Christian conclusions of Percy, the postmodern novels of Pynchon and DeLillo can be read as quests for signs of transcendence in a late twentieth-century world of indeterminancy and pessimism. In Pynchon’s Crying of Lot 49, we discovered in the midst of the fragmentary narrative with its indeterminate conclusion several suggestions of a positive spiritual significance of the revelations throughout the narrative. In particular, we found the ending...