June 2, 2005, on this blog: Apocalypse & Power
Quoting David Dark on the subject of apocalyptic literature:
Apocalyptic shows us what we’re not seeing. It can’t be composed or spoken by the powers that be, because they are the sustainers of “the way things are” whose operation justifies itself by crowning itself as “the way things ought to be” and whose greatest virtue is being “realistic.” Thinking through what we mean when we say “realistic” is where the apocalyptic begins. If the powers that be are the boot which, to borrow Orwell’s phrase, presses down upon the human face forever, apocalyptic is the speech of that human face. Apocalyptic denies, in spite of all the appearances to the contrary, the “forever” part.
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