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Lord of the World
Lord of the World
I am perfectly aware that this is a terribly sensational book, and open to innumerable criticisms on that account, as well as on many others. But I did not know how else to express the principles I desired (and which I passionately believe to be true) except by producing their lines to a sensational point...
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e established legally in another ten years at the latest.
"Now, we Catholics, remember, are losing; we have lost steadily for more than fifty years. I suppose that we have, nominally, about one-fortieth of America now--and that is the result of the Catholic movement of the early twenties. In France and Spain we are nowhere; in Germany we are less. We hold our position in the East, certainly; but even there we have not more than one in two hundred--so the statistics say--and we are scattered. In Italy? Well, we have Rome again to ourselves, but nothing else; here, we have Ireland altogether and perhaps one in sixty of England, Wales and Scotland; but we had one in forty seventy years ago. Then there is the enormous progress of psychology--all clean against us for at least a century. First, you see, there was Materialism, pure and simple that failed more or less--it was too crude--until psychology came to the rescue. Now psychology claims all the rest of the ground; and the supernatural sense seems accou
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"The Lord of the World" is an interesting novel by Robert Benson, the son of an Anglican bishop who converted to Catholicism.
The story depicts a technological century where thoroughfares, telecommunications and air travel are common, though with a Victorian flavor, for the highways are paved with rubber, people have telegraphs at home and fly on airships.
But it also has other almost prophetic descriptions of the society of the 21st century, where euthanasia is the morally acceptable way to assist victims of accidents and is widely provided by a state healthcare system. Countries are mere entities in larger blocks of countries, like "West", "East" and "Americas". Religion is barely tolerated and the only surviving religions are Catholicism in the West and in the Americas and Islam in the East; all other religions deflated and Mason secularism is the official religion.
In this dystopian society, war is a constant threat, but a charismatic senator appears in the Americas and goes around the world bringing enlightenment and hope as man had never found, even in the Christian religion.
There is world peace at last and all the peoples are united and the new leader is loved by all, amazed at his speeches, though no one recalls what he had said, except that he was thrilling.
But a vermin is identified for elimination: the Christians in the independent enclave of Rome...
Somehow England inspired authors to predict an authoritarian and tyrannical future, even a generation before George Orwell's "1984", like this novel. Sadly, I couldn't help the feeling of familiarity with this dystopian, fictional century. Yet, it was a good read and the end was quite original.
The story depicts a technological century where thoroughfares, telecommunications and air travel are common, though with a Victorian flavor, for the highways are paved with rubber, people have telegraphs at home and fly on airships.
But it also has other almost prophetic descriptions of the society of the 21st century, where euthanasia is the morally acceptable way to assist victims of accidents and is widely provided by a state healthcare system. Countries are mere entities in larger blocks of countries, like "West", "East" and "Americas". Religion is barely tolerated and the only surviving religions are Catholicism in the West and in the Americas and Islam in the East; all other religions deflated and Mason secularism is the official religion.
In this dystopian society, war is a constant threat, but a charismatic senator appears in the Americas and goes around the world bringing enlightenment and hope as man had never found, even in the Christian religion.
There is world peace at last and all the peoples are united and the new leader is loved by all, amazed at his speeches, though no one recalls what he had said, except that he was thrilling.
But a vermin is identified for elimination: the Christians in the independent enclave of Rome...
Somehow England inspired authors to predict an authoritarian and tyrannical future, even a generation before George Orwell's "1984", like this novel. Sadly, I couldn't help the feeling of familiarity with this dystopian, fictional century. Yet, it was a good read and the end was quite original.
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This is Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson's apocalyptic novel. A fascinating read (and worth reading and re-reading many times), the incorporated inventions are even more interesting when you realize Monsignor was writing in 1907.
12/01/2009
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