Damian Thompson
Nothing to Fear
Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults and Millennial Beliefs Throughout the Ages
By Eugen Weber
Hutchinson 288pp £18.99
Dr William Ullathorne, the first Catholic Bishop of Birmingham, was once asked to recommend a book about humility. He thought about it for a minute, then said judiciously: ‘My own is the best.’ A couple of years ago, I published a general history of millenarianism, and if anyone had asked me to recommend a book on the subject I would probably have responded as immodestly as the good bishop. But here comes Eugen Weber with a study of apocalypses down the ages which – he says through gritted teeth – it at least as good as any of its competitors.
More to the point, it is refreshingly different. That is because Weber, author of a much admired history of France in the 1930s, relies heavily on French-language sources. The result is a hugely entertaining sequence of apocalyptic visions which, while every bit as preposterous as their better-known American counterparts, are doused in the subtle perfume of Gallic fantasy. Thus we hear, for example, from the Parisian society hostess-cum-prophetess Baroness Julie von Krüdener (1764–1824), who declared in 1814 that the world was ‘dancing on a volcano’: soon, she added, masters would wash vegetables for their supper and fetch water from the well while ‘all the servant girls will walk about in silken dresses’. Only in France could the apocalypse feature fresh vegetables and haute couture.
In fact, constructing apocalyptic images of the future has been a French national pastime for centuries – and, it must be said, they’re pretty good at it: in 1414, the great scholar Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly ruled out the immediate arrival of the Antichrist on the grounds that he was not
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
London's East End was long synonymous with poverty and sweatshops, while its West End was associated with glamour and high society. But when it came to the fashion industry, were the differences really so profound?
Sharman Kadish - Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers
Sharman Kadish: Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers - Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style; Fashion City: ...
literaryreview.co.uk
In 1982, Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein with a pair of golden spurs. Two decades later he was dropping bunker-busting bombs on his palaces.
Where did the US-Iraqi relationship go wrong?
Rory Mccarthy - The Case of the Vanishing Missiles
Rory Mccarthy: The Case of the Vanishing Missiles - The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Barbara Comyns was a dog breeder, a house painter, a piano restorer, a landlady... And a novelist.
@nclarke14 on the lengths 20th-century women writers had to go to make ends meet:
Norma Clarke - Her Family & Other Animals
Norma Clarke: Her Family & Other Animals - Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence by Avril Horner
literaryreview.co.uk