Approaching Oblivion: Road Signs on the Treadmill Toward Tomorrow was published by Walker and Company in 1974, and it collects eleven stories from Ellison’s prolific early-to-mid 1970s period — a time when he was producing some of the most intense short fiction in American literature.
The collection showcases Ellison’s ability to work at every length. “Knox” is two pages long and contains a complete apocalypse — the end of the world compressed into a single scene of such concentrated emotion that it hits with the force of a novel. “Cold Friend” is a longer, more meditative piece about a dying man who is restored to health by aliens, only to discover that their cure has removed the capacity for feeling that made him human. “Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman” is a love story — or an anti-love story — about the gap between desire and connection.
The title refers to Ellison’s recurring theme: that civilization is approaching oblivion not through a single catastrophe but through a gradual erosion of empathy, attention, and moral courage. The “road signs” are the stories themselves — warnings posted along the treadmill of technological progress, each one pointing toward a future that we are creating through inattention.
Collecting Approaching Oblivion
First edition (Walker, New York, 1974): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition in dust jacket: $25–$60
- Signed copies: $50–$150