books that predict now

How about this oddity from Moby Dick (p.15 of my edition)? Ishmael's imagining that the newspaper headlines incorporate his own life, and here's what he sees:

Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States
Whaling Voyage by One Ishmael
Bloody Battle in Afghanistan

Oh my God is that weird!

And right above that

"The grand programme of Providence that was drawn up long ago"

That's just too bizarre--no wonder nobody knew what to make of this book back in 1850.

In a letter written by HD I just read yesterday, she's like OF COURSE telepathy and the supernatural are real--just don't let on like you know about it. I hereby predict--no one else will respond to this thread.

wrong!

The Octopus by Frank Norris

There are lots of parallels between our current Gilded Age and the last one (1880-1900, roughly). Things aren't quite as bad now, but a lot of the complaints against corporations that Norris includes in The Octopus sound quite familiar to our experience today. The characters are quite prescient, 100 years later.

Also, its a good reminder of the world that Bush & his cabal would like to bring us back to -- unrestrained capitalism, giant trusts, unempowerred workers. This book has certainly aged well.

August Comte writes that history moves in the same predictable cycles, and James Merrill writes: "THERE IS/ NO ACCIDENT."

Frank Norris certainly has aged well. Vandover and the Brute is at least as poignant as Sister Carrie, in terms of conveying the personal devastation wrought by capitalist/materialist vacancy of mind.

It's all been said, it's all been done. The sun shall set, eat cinnamon buns. Or something. Check out Vico's thoughts on this ^^^^^^

What about "Fahrenheit 451"? A society beholden to the boob tube which willingly surrenders its books to an anti-intellectual regime seems pretty familiar to me.