Perhaps the clearest evidence of Benson’s genius is to be found in the ease with which he crossed literary genres. Aside from his historical romances, he was equally at home with novels with a contemporary setting, such as The Necromancers, a cautionary tale about the dangers of spiritualism, or with futuristic fantasies, such as Lord of the World. The latter deserves to stand beside Huxley’s Brave New World and Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four as a classic of dystopian fiction. In fact, though Huxley’s and Orwell’s modern masterpieces may merit equal praise as works of literature, they are patently inferior as works of prophecy. The political dictatorships that gave Orwell’s novel-nightmare an ominous potency have had their day. Today, his cautionary fable serves merely as a timely reminder of what has been and what may be again if the warnings of history are not heeded. Benson’s novel-nightmare, on the other hand, is coming true before our very eyes.” Joseph Pearce, Literature: What Every Catholic Should Know
Apocalyptic literature is not my scene. I take seriously the admonition of memento mori and do seek, every day, to remember my death. Contemplating the actual possibility of how and when that death will occur (and how awful it might be) is, however, something too unsettling for me to wallow in.
Many years ago I read my way through the Left Behind series. I regret that. To this day, I cannot shake those books from my imagination. And I am certain that they have done me no good.
Followers of this blog or podcast may be aware that an exception to my avoidance of that genre is C. S. Lewis’s Ransom (Space) Trilogy. I think those books are masterworks and, despite their gritty possible end-of-the-world themes, I find them worthy of many re-readings.
I have been an avid reader of Joseph Pearce for years. I love Literature: What Every Catholic Should Know published by Augustine Institute & Ignatius Press. It is a truly excellent resource that is so well written and such a fascinating read. Each chapter covers one period of literature. In each, Pearce highlights the seminal author(s) of that period and gives us a compelling invitation into their best work(s). At the back is a top 100 list that I have been working my way through for the last five years. This year, I decided that it was time to put my big girl pants on and read Msgr. Hugh Benson’s nightmare-novel, Lord of the World. It is excellent!
As Pearce intimated above, this book is the most accurate prophecy for our current moment that I have ever read. It is absolutely chilling how on-the-nose Benson gets it – and it was published in 1907. It is often considered to be one of the first, if not the first, modern dystopian novels.
In speculative 2007, the world has thrown off all religion and embraced the cult of Secular Humanism. Under the banner of humanity, the antichrist ascends to power amidst euphoria and peace. The only resistance to the joining together of all nations under one president, The Lord of the World, are outposts of the Catholic church. While things are peaceful, the Catholics are considered lunatics and mostly ignored. As the antichrist amasses more and more power, however, the Catholics see their rights being eroded until the final persecution of having to choose Christ or euthanasia. Rome is bombed. The Church is in tatters. One young cardinal, suddenly made pope, remains in hiding in Nazareth. The masses turn on their neighbors and the “peace” of the antichrist degrades almost overnight. The nightmare ends in the final battle with the remnant church kneeling before the Eucharist as the heavens rip open and the angels and demons take center stage. The story is awful but brilliantly well-told.
I thought that I would loathe this book and be depressed. Make no mistake: it is depressing. But I was not depressed reading it. Benson allows the reader to remain hopeful, because, if we know Christ, we know how it ends. And, somehow, that is enough to see us through to the end.
We follow four characters in the main: a young priest, a powerful political husband and wife team, and an apostate priest. The young priest offers last rites to the dying mother of the power couple. The apostate priest serves as the liturgist of the new church of humanity. The husband and wife team try to make sense of this new world order. We see the husband harden in his resolve and we see the wife lose her mind and come unglued due to her despair. Their story is chilling.
There is no romantic ending. It is the end of the world. And this world must pass away. But we rejoice in the steadfast faith of the faithful priest. And we mourn for the wife who cannot overcome her grief. And we watch the Church Militant stand and oppose the evil that comes to steal so many.
I am not sure what purpose it serves to read books like this. Except that maybe my grief over the wife should stir me into action right here, right now, to attend to what is going on around us and to take a stand every time I can? Maybe my grief is a reminder to myself not to go along . . . not to take my eyes off of the prize? Maybe books like these help me to count the cost and live as Church Militant right here and now?
The antichrist character in this novel reminds me of Nicolae Carpathia from the Left Behind series. I wonder if Jenkins was inspired by Benson? But the writing is much much richer. The language and the structure and the style remind me of Lewis’s trilogy. I think I need to re-read this with my Tuesday Night Book Club to see what else I really think of it.
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