Apocalyptic lliterature: The end has come; now what?

[Syd A]

Is anyone familiar with novels or shorter works that deal with an apocalyptic, end-of-world scenario, and with what humans do in the final hours of mankind?

I'm not looking for works depicting humans' attempts to save the world, as in the movie Armageddon. I'm also not looking for "The Remnant" kind of literature, as in King's The Stand, or for "last man" or post-apocalyptic works. Rather, I'm looking for a work in which humans have already accepted that the end will come soon, a work that describes their actions, feelings, and thoughts during the last days of humanity.

In other words: The end has come; now what?

[Panglossian]

The Purple Cloud by M.P. Shiel might fit the bill.

[Venerable Bede]

The Road by Cormac McCarthy deals with the events after an apocalypse. It is very well written and won a Pulitzer Prize, and is probably one of the more high profile works dealing with this subject.

[Panglossian]

Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle.

The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization. But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival--a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known....

[john7]

WOW! This is incredible
http://pages.eggge.com/images/52.gif

[ChicagoReader]

The Road is great, it is never explained as to what happened but it doesn't matter.

[Syd A]

I just found one that fits my requirements perfectly, although it is very short and disappointing: The Last Night of the World by Ray Bradbury.

[Chris 73]

The Dying Of The Light. George RR Martin.
Apparently this is very good. Haven't read it myself but Martin is a fine writer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_of_the_Light

[Blasarius '33]

Nightfall (http://75.24.127.133/Stories/Nightfall.htm), by Isaac Asimov fits the requirements pretty well. It's somewhere around thirty pages.

And even though it doesn't exactly fit the O.P.'s request, I highly recommend Twilight (http://www.naderlibrary.com/eiseley.twilight.johnstuartcampbell.htm), by John W. Campbell. Similar subject--end of the world/man--but an immensely broad and less melodramatic presentation of it.

[Des Essientes]

I highly recommend the novel "A Canticle For Liebowitz" which features several centuries after a nuclear holocaust and ends with yet another. It is truly one of the best books in the apocalyptic genre.

[dfloyd]

my estimation. McCarthy is a fine writer, but The Road is well below his best work with its repetitivenes. But back to the story you are looking for: On the Beach by Neville Shute fits your novel description.

[Calidore]

I highly recommend the novel "A Canticle For Liebowitz" which features several centuries after a nuclear holocaust and ends with yet another. It is truly one of the best books in the apocalyptic genre.

Second, with a finger-wag to Des Essientes for the spoiler.

[MysticWind]

Rather, I'm looking for a work in which humans have already accepted that the end will come soon, a work that describes their actions, feelings, and thoughts during the last days of humanity.

This is a very specific genre, but there are works in it. The one that best comes to mind is On the Beach by Nevil Shute, about the last survivors in Australia in their last weeks prior to a nuclear fallout reaching their shores.

I've also read a very grim Harry Potter fanfiction featuring this scenario. But that's no literature.