Originally published in 1991 and reprinted in 2000, this is the first translation into English of the El fin del mundo como obra de arte: un relato occidental by the popular Spanish writer and philosopher Rafael Argullol. A collection of poignant, brief chapters that can be read independently, the book presents a history of the Western world by means of its artistic, literary, and political figures and the different attempts at creating a view of the end of the world as a "work of art." Interdisciplinary in nature, it crosses thematic as well as genre boundaries in a style regarded as "transversal". In an effort to redress the absence of Spanish essayists in the English market, the translator includes an introduction to the Spanish essay, a contextualization of the author and his literary production, as well as an "Afterword," where she places this work along the lines of postmodern theorizing yet written for a non-academic public. Yolanda Gamboa is Assistant Professor of Spanish literature at Florida Atlantic University.

Translated by: Yolanda Gamboa