dystopian fiction
DESCRIPTION
Information on the literary genre of dystopia, from the earliest examples to the present deluge of YA fictionTRANSCRIPT
Dystopian Fiction
Dystopia Defined
From Dictionary.com“An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.”
Word first used by JOHN STUART MILL
Utopias
“The Perfect World”
We – Yevgeny Zamyatin (1921)
• The Individual Human vs. The Collective State• D-503 a reluctant rebel• Precursor of 1984, but also…
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley (1932)
• World State citizens preconditioned to be happy• Safety, comfort and prosperity…but at what cost?• Contrast with “savage reservation”
1984 – George Orwell (1948)
• Doublethink – As shown in Four Ministries• Thoughts are controlled utterly• Eerily accurate with some of its predictions
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess (1962)
• A world of “ultra violence”• Free will and the problem of Evil• The curious case of the final chapter
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K Dick (1968)
• “Replicants” have surpassed humans• An environmental nightmare• Population controlled, albeit more subtly
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (1986)
• Predetermined inequality• A critique of religious fundamentalism• A feminist tale?
Fatherland – Robert Harris (1992)
• Alternative History• Cover ups and conspiracy theories• Scarier than a futuristic story?
Some more notable examplesHG Wells – The Time Machine (1895) Humans have regressed by the year 802,701
Franz Kafka – The Trial (1924) An unseen authority punishes you for unknown crimes
Kurt Vonnegut – Player Piano (1952) Machines have completely replaced the need for human labour
Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 (1954) Books are burned; people only read what the Government wants them to
Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged (1957) What would happen if the strong refused to support the weak?
JG Ballard – High Rise (1975) Technology isolates people in a block of flats
Kazuo Ishiguro – Never Let Me Go (2005) Clones are bred to support the ‘normals’
Cormac McCarthy – The Road (2006) The aftermath of the end of civilisation
The one that started the craze…
• Violence as a tool for state control• Reality TV gone mad• Possible parallels with today’s ‘hyperreality’
Teenage Angst?
Body image issues
Five Factions = Society telling teenagers what’s best
Summary – Common themes in Dystopian Literature
• Individual Freedom vs. The State• Non-Heroic Heroes• Wariness of ‘progress’• Current affairs have influence
The Last Word