Omega by Camille Flammarion
"Omega" is a narrative set in the distant future, specifically the twenty-fifth century, where Earth faces the imminent threat of a comet strike. The story unfolds through a series of discussions among scientists in Paris, who analyze the comet's trajectory and its potential impact, providing a blend of optimism and pessimism about humanity's fate. As the comet is predicted to destroy Rome while sparing the rest of the planet, church leaders in Rome engage in their own debates, reflecting a complex interplay between science and religion. This initial part presents a stark contrast between the scientific discourse and the historical context of past disasters, suggesting a gradual shift from superstition to scientific understanding.
The narrative transitions ten million years into the future, depicting a scientific utopia that ultimately faces the inevitable demise of humanity as Earth transforms into a barren wasteland. Characters emerge for the first time in this section, focusing on the last man and woman, Omegar and Eve, who symbolize the end of human existence. The story culminates with a mystical vision of the universe’s death and potential rebirth, challenging the finite nature of human understanding and hinting at the cyclical nature of existence through the convergence of entropy and creation. Overall, "Omega" invites readers to contemplate the relationship between science, faith, and the ultimate fate of humanity within the cosmos.
On this Page
Omega
First published:La fin du monde (1894; English translation, 1894)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—apocalypse
Time of work: The twenty-fifth century c.e. and ten million years in the future
Locale: Earth
The Plot
This work is a narrative only in the most minimal sense. The first section offers no characters, only types, each of whom speaks from the perspective of a particular discipline. The sole “plot” is an immediate threat of a comet striking Earth, in early July of an undisclosed year in the twenty-fifth century.
The novel describes an assembly of world scientists, in the “new palace of the Institute,” in Paris. The narrator first discusses, using many technical graphs and numerical calculations, the nature of the comet and its arrival time. Then the director of the observatory of Paris speaks. He consoles his audience, saying there will be a “partial disaster, of the highest scientific importance, but leaving behind its historians to tell the story.” The next speaker, the president of the Academy of Medicine, gives a grim account of humankind suffocating as the colliding comet fills Earth’s atmosphere with carbonic oxide. Other scientists, including geologists, meteorologists, paleontologists, and even a veterinarian, offer learned theories. Their alternating optimism and pessimism sway the audi ence back and forth. The debate is interrupted by a message from Martian astronomers. In a terse message, they present a precise calculation of the time and place of impact. The comet will not destroy all of Earth, only Rome.
The scene shifts to Rome, where church leaders debate the coming catastrophe. The first speaker, a traditional prelate, is eclipsed by a second, positivist priest. The church lines up with science, but its vision is no less faulty. The narrator, digressing, gives a history of plagues, disasters, and comets to demonstrate how science gradually replaces superstition. Although the action takes place in the twenty-fifth century, the account of past disasters stops with nineteenth century events. In the next chapter, the comet hits. As Mars predicted, Rome is destroyed, but Earth survives.
Part 2 takes place ten million years in the future. Scientific utopia is realized. Humanity has rid itself of war through women’s refusal to marry soldiers. Changes in geography are described. Paris, for example, has become a seaport. Scientific discourse turns from description of human technology and progress to description of the “old age of the earth.” Mountains dwindle and continents become seas. Water drains into the core of a globe whose inner fires grow cold, and Earth becomes a dry, cold wasteland, incapable of sustaining organic life. The final scenes depict the inevitable death of humanity. Only now does Camille Flammarion employ traditional characters, Omegar and Eve, the last man and woman on Earth. Part 2 ends with the “psychical” part of these two being carried off to Jupiter by the specter of Cheops, ancient king of Egypt.
An epilogue describes the death of the solar system, the galaxy, and then the entire universe. The narrator looks to the final end of things. His vision is not scientific but mystical. He suggests that it is because human conceptions are finite that things have a beginning and end. Even entropy, Earth’s “heat death,” is of this order. The “infinite” vision of the last pages shows entropy reversed as dead suns collide. New worlds and a new humanity are formed.