Book of laughter and forgetting

From a 1979 interview between Philip Roth and Milan Kundera

Philip Roth : Do you think the destruction of the world is coming soon?
Milan Kundera : That depends on what you mean by the word "soon."
Philip Roth : Tomorrow or the day after.
Milan Kundera : The feeling that the world is rushing to ruin is an ancient one.
Philip Roth : So then we have nothing to worry about.
Milan Kundera : On the contrary. If a fear has been present in the human mind for ages, there must be something to it.