Welcome to 2023, the year of The End of the Dream

Author Philip Wylie's dystopian final work, The End of the Dream, published in 1972, looked ahead to the world of 2023, which Wylie imagined would be a shell of its former self, having been ravaged in the intervening half-century by a bewildering variety of ecological catastrophes, its population decimated. Most of the novel consisted of describing these catastrophes. They included (as summarized by the NY Times reviewer): "Lethal inversions, volcanic aberrations, exploding rivers (from industrial waste), exploding people (from combustible flatulence), isotopes on the Spuyten Duyvil, sea leeches in the Gulf Stream, plagues of insects, failure of the earth's crust, epidemics of blue haze, green slime, black blight."

Here's a snippet from the book that details the combustible flatulence:

Father Trentchel, pastor emeritus of the Elk Hill Episcopal church... had recently been aware of abdominal discomfort—gas, he called it. He did not associate these unpleasant symptoms with the diet that Emily, his daughter and housekeeper, had recently been giving him. For at the supermarket Emily had discovered the new Master Mixfrozen Foods, so cheap, so tasty, so easy. It was a pity Father Trentchel didn't put two and two together, for one day he eased his flatulence by breaking wind as he was standing with his back to a blazing fire and... he blew up. When Emily, alarmed by the noise, ran into the room, his entrails were running down the walls.

The ecological apocalypse that Wylie imagined hasn't arrived quite yet, but who knows what the next fifty years might bring.

You can find The End of the Dream on archive.org.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 01, 2023
Category: Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Comments

I remember that book! 1972 was a good year for an old curmudgeon (such as I now am) to write about the end of dreams. The sea leeches (called "vibes" I think--WTF) were the scariest part.

I first read "volcanic aberrations" as "vocalic aberrations." I've sure heard plenty of those.

Posted by Dr. Fian on 01/01/23 at 10:40 AM

Soylent Green doesn't seem so bad now, compared with those Master Mixfrozen Foods.

Posted by Virtual in Carnate on 01/01/23 at 04:00 PM

An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!

Posted by KDP on 01/01/23 at 05:00 PM

@Virtual: Soylent Green is at least better than "Cheez Product".

@KDP: *lowers sunglasses*

Posted by Richard Bos on 01/07/23 at 10:05 AM

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