&sq=&lang=&file=File:GoreVidal_Kalki.jpg) Cover of the British first edition | |
| Author | Gore Vidal |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | 1978 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 255 pp |
| ISBN | 0-394-42053-5 |
| OCLC | 3516173 |
| 813/.5/4 | |
| LC Class | PZ3.V6668 Kal PS3543.I26 |
Kalki is a 1978 pre/post-apocalyptic novel by American author Gore Vidal.
Kalki is narrated by Theodora (Teddy) Ottinger, a Southern Californian aviator ("aviatrix" in the text) and author, who, after publishing a book called Beyond Motherhood, comes to the attention of Kalki, the leader of a Kathmandu-based religious cult. The cult secretly makes its money through selling drugs and then gives it away using lotus lotteries. Kalki claims to be God, as well as the final Avatar of Vishnu, who is going to end the human race on April 3. The planet will then be rid of the wicked and a fresh, clean start will usher in a new golden age. Ottinger suspects that Kalki will create a worldwide nuclear chain reaction which will annihilate every living thing and leave the planet uninhabitable. When the threatened apocalypse does occur, however, it does not take the form which Ottinger had feared, and only the human species succumbs to extinction.
The novel covers many cultural and political topics such as overpopulation, birth control, bisexuality and feminism.