About all I can say is that we can probably never go back to where we started. Whether this was a change for the good or a less welcome change, I am in no position to judge. Viewed from such a professional perspective, it would seem that the interface between us and the stories we encounter underwent a greater change than ever before at some point when the world crossed (or began to cross) the millennial threshold. Like skilled fashion designers, we novelists clothe stories, as they change shape from day to day, in words suited to their figures. In principle a medium of cultural transmission, stories are highly variable when it comes to the mode of presentation they employ. Stories change form freely as they inhale the air of each new age. That is one of the things that gives a story its meaning. While each story is unique, it functions for the most part as something that can be shared and exchanged with others. The story has always been one of the most fundamental human concepts. Over the past 30 years, I have written fiction in various forms ranging from short stories to full-length novels. These two acts of destruction, which played out on either side of the millennial turning point with such vastly different momentum in each case, appear to have combined into a single pair that greatly transformed our mentality. The widespread conviction in the first case that “the world will be better than ever” was totally shattered by the disaster of 9/11. The first act of destruction was one filled with bright hopes, while the one that followed it was an overwhelming tragedy. What were the events demarcating the spirit of the 21st century from that of the 20th? From a global perspective, they were, first of all, the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent rapid end of the Cold War order, and second, the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings on Sept.

Haruki murakami end of the world