The literary conventions of apocalyptic science fiction : a study of Dean Koontz's the Eyes of Darkness (1981)‎

الملخص EN

A central theme that gripped the imagination of science fiction writers is the end of the world which they portrayed under a collection of subthemes such as catastrophe, survival, apocalypse, post-apocalypse, and dystopia.

This paper deals with the sub-genre of apocalyptic science fiction and explores the ways that modern and contemporary writers engage with cosmic disasters and catastrophes.

The novel under discussion is The Eyes of Darkness (1981) by Dean Koontz.

In this novel, Koontz mentions a fictional biological weapon Wuhan-400, around 40 years before the global disease, Coronavirus (Covid-19), outbreak occurred.

The paper sheds light on the conventions of apocalyptic science fiction as presented in the novel.

It also tends to draw out the similarities between Koontz' fictional virus 'Wuhan-400' and the real global pandemic 'Covid-19'.