Truth, Progress, and Destruction: Understanding Stephen Vincent Benét’s “By the Waters of Babylon” Through the Lens of Francis Bacon’s Essays

ABSTRACT

The dichotomy between the promise and destructive potential of modern technology raises the essential question of the coming decades: Will modern science, or more accurately its resulting technology, prove to be humanity’s savior, or its doom? Francis Bacon (1561–1626), considered by most to be the “father” of modern science, was himself ambivalent regarding this question. In response, the twentieth century saw a corresponding explosion of dystopian and postapocalyptic literature, wherein authors attempted to give voice to the collective dread of the seemingly inevitable destruction of our society. In his short story “By the Waters of Babylon,” American author Stephen Vincent Benét (1898–1943) provides one of the most haunting of these attempts. In this article, the authors draw upon the lessons of Bacon’s Essays in order to elucidate what Benét’s story teaches us about the nature of scientific progress, and the corresponding value of truth in political life.