Post-apocalyptic fiction, alongside apocalyptic fiction, forms a paired subgenre of speculative fiction in which Earth's civilization is collapsing or has already collapsed. The precipitating event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronomical, such as an impact event; destructive, such as nuclear holocaust or resource depletion; medical, such as a natural or human-caused pandemic; or an end-time scenario such as the Last Judgment, the Second Coming, the 2012 phenomenon or Ragnarok, alongside other outcomes such as a zombie apocalypse, an AI takeover, a technological singularity, or natural disasters and alien invasions.
Facts
Place of OriginRecognizable apocalyptic novels date to at least the early 19th century with Mary Shelley's The Last Man (1826), but the genre only became widely popular after the Second World War, once nuclear annihilation entered public consciousness. 1 Notable ExampleMary Shelley's 1826 novel The Last Man is generally recognized as the first major post-apocalyptic story. 1 Defining TraitFiction in which civilization is collapsing or has already collapsed, from causes ranging from nuclear war and pandemics to climate catastrophe and alien invasion. 1 Connections
Sources
1. Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationlead paragraph, first sentence
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are subgenres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another place's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed.
History section, on Mary Shelley's The Last Man
Mary Shelley's novel The Last Man (1826) is a continuation of the apocalyptic theme in fiction and is generally recognized as the first major fictional post-apocalyptic story.
History section, on the genre's 19th-century origin and post-World War II popularity
Recognizable modern apocalyptic novels had existed since at least the first third of the 19th century, when Mary Shelley's The Last Man (1826) was published; however, this form of literature gained widespread popularity after World War II, when the possibility of global annihilation by nuclear weapons entered the public consciousness.
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