Introduction

In A.N. Wilson's novel "God's Funeral", she writes "the nineteenth century had created a climate for itself -philosophical, politico-sociological, literary, artistic, personal - in which God had become unknowable, His voice inaudible against the din of machines and the atonal banshee of the emerging egomania called 'The Modern' (12) As its titles portray, both Darwin's "Origin of the Species" and "The Descent of Man" seemed to emphasize the universe as entirely without purpose, a view that is difficult to coincide with a moral or religious belief. As a result, many Victorians such as Carlyle and Marie Corelli struggled with the ramifications of what this 'emerging world' meant: these fears materialized into an almost Dostoevskian vision ("The Possessed") which saw society as undergoing increasing demonic possession. This blog explores this conceptualization of modern society: both in the Victorian era and also to what extent these 'prophetic' visions can be realized in today's world.