Science Fiction: The Short Stuff discussion

This post-apocalyptic short story by American writer Stephen Vincent Benét was first published July 31, 1937 in The Saturday Evening Post as "The Place of the Gods". It was republished in 1943 in The Pocket Book of Science Fiction, and was adapted in 1971 into a one-act play. Benét wrote the story in response to the April 25, 1937 bombing of Guernica, a Basque town in which Fascist military forces destroyed the majority of the population during the Spanish Civil War.

Sounds heavy, but I'm up for it. I've seen an experimaental play on a college campus in which Picasso's painting of the same subject, the bombing of Guernica, and reactions to the painting, was the entire focus of the play. This story is available everywhere easily, and since it's famous has its own Wikipedia page, reviews, etc.

I've just finished the story and am impressed.
The story is told in the first person by the son of a priest, who needs to go on a journey to become a full priest. He sees some visions and learns something valuable on his journey to the Dead Places.

I read it and liked it too. I was quite impressed with the post-apocalyptic setting which felt written after 1945, yet was published in 1937: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... I read my copy from the Internet Archive for free.

I read it on Project Gutenberg, also for free.

I guess the setting could be almost any post-apocalyptic one, but as I read the story I kept being reminded of Andre Norton's Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D. I guess it's natural to compare any novel of this type read in childhood and vividly remembered. I have to think Norton had read and somewhat cadged from Benet though.