Zbigniew Lewicki: The Bang and the Whimper: Apocalypse and Entropy in American Literature; Greenwood Press; Westport, CT.

Every instant, each of us moves closer to the End. It may be a result of “the big one,”or it could simply be that our biologi­cal software program has run its functions. Every instant there is more disorder. In such a uni­verse of dissolutions, what is the role of the artist? To create something that will last beyond the time of its creator and beyond the times or to cut a slice of chaos? Professor Lewicki shows that American writers–from John Cotton to John Updike–have been grappling with this problem. It begins to appear that Moderns have progressed far beyond the Ancients: into the Realm of Disorder.                                D