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.

Dystopia in works of Harry Martinson and Andrei Platonov

Abstract: The paper presents a comparative study of two literary works which are basically different in their forms of expression: the poem “Aniara” by Harry Martinson, and the novel The Founda tion Pit by Andrei Platonov. The common ground of the two authors’ literary philosophy is emphasized, as well as their common themes and the similarity of ideas, which is determined both by the personal experience and the ways of mankind’s evolution in the first half of the 20th century. The analysis shows that the existence improvement concept lies at the bottom of the studied works. Though this concept has reached the ultimate stage of absurdity where the initially positive ideas to build a house for the country’s proletarians (Platonov) and to save the mankind in the space (Martinson) lead to a negative result: death. While the Platonov’s novel is well-known for a wide audience, the poem of the Swedish author is a revelation for the majority as an example of post-apocalyptic dystopia written in an elegant poetic language. The present article introduces what these two literary works have in common in relation to genre (both the poem and the novel represent failed utopia — dystopia) and architectonics. The story lines are based on such motifs as motif of traveling, motif of searching for happiness and truth, and motif of death, a key-motif for both literary works.

Biopolitics of body in aldous huxley’s brave new world

Abstract: Aldous Huxley is a well-known English writer who has had a major influence on the subsequent writers directly or indirectly. A prolific writer of a variety of books including novels, short stories, essays, screenplays, and travel books, Huxley is especially famous for the novel Brave New World (1932). The novel depicts the World State in 632 A. F. (after Ford); it is controlled by Mustapha Mond, and people are born through artificial wombs. Since the novel was published, it has attracted much attention not only in the field of literature but also in the field of biology. Hailed as one of the most outstanding dystopian novels, the novel provides precise delineations of a racist and totalitarian regime, the World State, characterized by the advanced biotechnology, overpowering hedonism as well as deliberately devised emotional numbness. It is obvious that life, especially the biological existence of people, becomes not only the cornerstone but also the prey of politics—biopolitics. Michel Foucault’s term, biopolitics, is the basis of the biopolitical frame, within which, Brave New World is closely examined in this paper. The novel reflects a biopolitical aim which is to shelter and improve life through the biological regulation with advanced bio-science as well as biotechnology. In this respect, this study intends to carry out a detailed analysis of biopolitics reflected in Brave New World, represented by biological regulation pertaining to life making and setting, medicalization, and sexuality.

Visages de l'utopie dans la par abole roumaine contemporaine: Le Cimetière des héros (2017) par Adrian Lesenciuc

Abstract: The emergence of globalization, the economic and political crisis of the postcommunist transition, the cultural and identity challenges of the integration in the European Union have modeled – within the Romanian social and cultural imaginary – a dynamics that is relevant for the incorporation of »social dreaming« or »utopianism« (L T Sargent) Connected to the »deep contradiction between universalism and particularism« (Ph Wegner) that is conceived of as a constant characteristic of modernity and that is illustrated by the Romanian opposition between »localism« and »Occidentalism«, and also related to the »memo- rial conflicts« (J Candau) regarding the recent past, this dynamics has been integrated in the narratives of contemporary Romanian novels Without adopting all the conventions of narrative utopia (its negative varieties included), the Romanian novels of the 2000s reveal the mutations of »social dreaming« either in realistic, or in allegorical or parabolic forms tributary to the utopian / dystopian imaginary It is also the case of the novel The Cemetery of Heroes (2017) by Adrian Lesenciuc, in which both the utopian satire and the dystopia are contrasted against a cultural-pedagogic utopia within a parable of multiple semantic levels The subjects, the narrative strategies and the elements of vision that are characteristic for (anti-)utopianism are here instrumented in a complex narrative architecture which includes a political novel, a parable of civilizations and a parable of the human condition

Portals and Mirrors: Imagining Futures Through Film

Abstract: Cinema has imagined the future of human civilization and of the planet itself. Many films have adopted a perspective that is utopian, dystopian, or a combination of each. Jorge Mari, Ph.D. argues in this video that futuristic sci-fi movies are more than simple forms of entertainment, but expressions of the times and societies that made them. If we ask critical questions and go beneath the surface, such films may help us articulate questions about our own present and future.