Dystopia

About: Dystopia is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2146 publications have been published within this topic receiving 15163 citations. The topic is also known as: cacotopia.

From Heaven to Hell: Revolutionary Dreams and Dystopia in Zoé Valdés's La nada cotidiana

Abstract: The Cuban Revolution has frequently been characterized as a utopian project. Such a perspective stems from the socialist orientation of the Revolution and the frequent association of socialism with utopia. However, with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, which marked the end of economic aid from this former communist superpower and ally, Cuba entered a new, post-Soviet era of extreme economic crisis, known officially as the “Special Period in Times of Peace.” La nada cotidiana (1995) by Zoe Valdes is a critical portrayal of life in Cuba during the Special Period. Valdes’s novel shows how the state continues to disseminate its socialist, utopian ideology during this time of crisis in an attempt to salvage the Revolution; however, several of the novel’s main characters find the government’s ideology unconvincing, so they do not identify with it. Indeed, from the narrator’s perspective, the Revolution has failed and become a dystopian nightmare. With the threat of repression in the background, the Cuban people as depicted in the novel either feign their support for the Revolution or at least do not vocalize their opposition; as a result, the novel’s contemporary Cuba is a mere simulation of a truly revolutionary, utopian society. I argue that the apparent failure of the Cuban Revolution and the end of utopia for the island nation can be said to mark Cuba’s entrance into postmodernity and that one of the defining characteristics of the island’s postmodern condition is the idea of simulation. The term utopia was first coined by English humanist Thomas More in his homonymous text of 1516, written during the European age of discovery, and many scholars believe that he envisioned his Utopia as situated somewhere in the American hemisphere. The Argentine essayist Ezequiel Martinez Estrada went even further and argued that the Taino civilization of Cuba, as described by Pedro Martir in his Decadas del Nuevo Mundo (chronicles of the New World, published between 1493-1526), was undoubtedly the basis for More’s Utopia (94) and that the latter was an “anticipatory vision” of Cuban society after the triumph of the Revolution (114-15). Martir was one of Columbus’s traveling companions during the latter’s second voyage to the Americas, and he probably remained on one of the Caribbean islands until 1498 (Martinez Estrada 94). The third book of his Decadas del Nuevo Mundo was the only part of this work to be published before More’s Utopia , whereas the vast majority of the chronicles of the Indies were not published or did

The Visibility and Invisibility of Class, Race, Gender, and Sexuality in The Hunger Games

Abstract: In the world of The Hunger Games, as depicted in Suzanne Collins’s novels and their film adaptations, the citizens of the 12 districts of the country of Panem are controlled by their fear of the powerful central government, the Capitol.1 People living in the districts furthest from the Capitol, particularly Districts 10, 11, and 12, primarily live in poverty, while those living closer to the Capitol and, especially, those living in the Capitol have access to resources and advanced technology. The book and film series focus on Katniss Everdine (played by Jennifer Lawrence), a teenage girl from District 12, who enters the arena of the Hunger Games as a tribute and, ultimately, becomes a leader in a class-based revolution against the Capitol. The society portrayed in The Hunger Games is best described as dystopian, but also includes elements of a post-apocalyptic narrative. We conceptualize the districts’ uprising, subsequent war, and failed revolution, which included the partial annihilation of District 13,2 as the apocalyptic event that disrupted the very structure of the society and resulted in the negotiation of a new social contract. Because 74 years pass between the end of the war and the beginning of the story, the story focuses less on the apocalyptic events than on the dystopian aftermath. However, The Hunger Games draws on several key post-apocalyptic narrative elements, including the emphasis on the struggle for survival after a major traumatic event, scarcity of resources, and lack of technology and infrastructure, particularly in the Districts.

Recurrent Dystopian themes in Scott Westerfeld’s Novel ‘Uglies’

Abstract: The genre of dystopian fiction has been largely studied, and a significant number of contributions explain its main themes and features. Plus, this type of literature is still strongly developed at present, with a several titles among the best sold. Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series (2005-2007), which can be found in this sort of works, is an example of recent dystopian literature which enjoys a large number of readers. The aim of this research is to determine whether Westerfeld develops in his first text of the series, Uglies (2005), a suggestion of recurrent themes in dystopian fiction. This can show to what extent Westerfeld frames his piece of fiction into a traditional dystopian setting. The results of this study, thus, can shed some light on the characteristics of 21st century dystopian fiction, which are to be compared with the traditional definition of the genre. Keywords: Dystopian; Westerfeld; Uglies; Young-Adult-Fiction.

The colonizer and the colonized: A postcolonial approach to Brave New World

Abstract: Postcolonial studies analyze the power relationship between the colonizer and the colonized people and tries to show the dominance of the colonizer over the colonized people not only in political, but also in social, cultural, and psychological aspects of life. The aim of this paper is to show how Brave New World (1975), a dystopia by Aldous Huxley, is strongly in line with postcolonial approach, and how it reveals some traces of Britain postcolonial attitude toward the colonized people. One of the key concepts which Edward Said (1979) introduces to literary criticism is ‘othering’. This concept can be traced well in the novel about the character called John and also his mother Linda. The governors of England consider John and Linda as inferior, savage, and dangerous persons who is an alien and an “other” for their society. Exile is another postcolonial term which is well applicable to this novel. According to this postcolonial definition both John and his mother are in exile because both of them are separated from their true culture. Other postcolonial conceptions such as subaltern, and cultural diversity shed light upon the unexplained, but seemingly simple plot and structure of Brave New World. Finally, the conclusion focuses on the fact that in Brave New World both John and Linda are others who are sacrificed because of the imperial oppression of the World State.

Megapolis y ciberpolis en Snow Crash, de Neal Stephenson

Abstract: Snow Crash, as a novel that belongs to a cyberpunk literary subgenere, develops an urban vision taken from the present cities and blows up this vision in a dystopian future. There are cities more fragmented and with more socio-economic differences. Furthermore, a rival appears to this real space, a virtual simulacra, an unplace become into a place, which plays with the concept of the Second Life. A comparative work between these spaces reveals the force possessed by science fiction to advice about the present