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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.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines the treatment of leisure in four widely-read dystopian novels and concludes that the anti-leisure described in these novels is not leisure's opposite, work, but leisure perverted to achieve the perpetuation of tyranny, such that it regulates identity, prevents individual thought, impedes self-sufficiency, encourages immoderation and distracts citizens from social injustice through various compulsory activities.
Abstract: Literary utopias, i.e. designs for the theoretically perfect society, have been common in Western literature since Plato's The Republic . A variation on this genre which emerged in the nineteenth century is the anti-utopia, or dystopia, in which an author depicts the worst of all possible societies. Dystopias usually exaggerate contemporary social trends and in doing so, offer serious social criticism. This essay examines the treatment of leisure in four widely-read dystopian novels. The leisure described in these novels we call anti-leisure. It is not leisure's opposite, work, but leisure perverted to achieve the perpetuation of tyranny. Such leisure regulates identity, prevents individual thought, impedes self-sufficiency, encourages immoderation, and distracts citizens from social injustice through various compulsory activities. Such novels encourage the re-examination of theories of leisure from a humanistic standpoint.

14 citations

Book
23 Apr 2010
TL;DR: In this paper, MUKHERJEE and CAHAN this paper presented a model of self-hood and self-organization in the United States, which was used to model the 20th century CITIZENSHIP.
Abstract: CONTENTS List of Illustrations List of Music Examples Preface Acknowledgements Preface MODELING CITIZENSHIP AND MODELED SELFHOOD Introduction PERPETUAL FOREIGNERS AND MODEL MINORITIES: NATURALIZING JEWISH AMERICANS AND ASIAN AMERICANS Chapter One "WHO MAY BE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES": CITIZENSHIP MODELS IN EDITH MAUDE EATON AND ABRAHAM CAHAN Chapter Two INTERRUPTED ALLEGIANCES: INDIVISIBILITY AND TRANSNATIONAL PLEDGES Chapter Three UTOPIAN AND DYSTOPIAN CITIZENSHIPS: VISIONS AND REVISIONS OF THE 'PROMISED LAND' Chapter Four READING AND WRITING AMERICA: BHARATI MUKHERJEE'S JASMINE AND EVA HOFFMAN'S LOST IN TRANSLATION Chapter Five DEMARCATING THE NATION: NATURALIZING COLD WAR LEGACIES AND WAR ON TERROR POLICIES Epilogue "A SENSE OF LOSS AND ANOMIE": MODEL MINORITIES AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CITIZENSHIP Endnotes

14 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the post-apocalyptic setting of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road (2006), a father and his son push down the road a battered shopping cart, containing their bare provisions, on a thoroughly consumed earth as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In the post-apocalyptic setting of Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road (2006), a father and his son “push down the road a battered shopping cart, containing their bare provisions, on a thoroughly consumed earth” (Seltzer 189). Despite the fact that the novel seems to be situated in an indistinct no-man’s-land, marked by a curious absence of time and history, this essay argues that it is indeed worthwhile to historicize The Road. By placing the novel in the context of the new capitalism, the article explores the ways in which McCarthy’s treatment of mobility deviates from previous American road narratives, which typically celebrate the pleasures and possibilities of movement and flight. Concentrating on the novel’s dystopian “catastrophism,” the essay will further investigate its relation to temporality, history, and the future.

14 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Thomas Vargish1
TL;DR: For example, the authors argues that the irrational threat that a planned sustainable society poses for most of Western humanity lies in the implication that the time has come for us to take full responsibility for our future, that we can no longer remain the children of a cosmic process or the secure beneficiaries of economic or social laws.

14 citations

Book
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: The Book of Legendary Lands as discussed by the authors is an illustrated tour of fabled places in literature and folklore that have awed, troubled, and eluded us through the ages, from the epic poets of antiquity to contemporary writers of science fiction, and from the authors of the Holy Scriptures to modern raconteurs of fairy tales.
Abstract: A fascinating illustrated tour of the fabled places in literature and folklore that have awed, troubled, and eluded us through the ages. From the epic poets of antiquity to contemporary writers of science fiction, from the authors of the Holy Scriptures to modern raconteurs of fairy tales, writers and storytellers through the ages have invented imaginary and mythical lands, projecting onto them all of our human dreams, ideals, and fears. In the tradition of his acclaimed History of Beauty, On Ugliness, and The Infinity of Lists, renowned writer and cultural critic Umberto Eco leads us on a beautifully illustrated journey through these lands of myth and invention, showing us their inhabitants, the passions that rule them, their heroes and antagonists, and, above all, the importance they hold for us. He explores this human urge to create such places, the utopias and dystopias where our imagination can confront things that are too incredible or challenging for our limited real world. Illuminated with more than 300 color images, The Book of Legendary Lands is both erudite and thoroughly enjoyable, bringing together disparate elements of our shared literary legacy in a way only Umberto Eco can. Homer s poems and other ancient and medieval texts are presented side by side with Gulliver s Travels and Alice in Wonderland; Tolkien shares space with Marco Polo s Books of the Marvels of the World; films complement poems, and comics inform novels. Together, these stories have influenced the sensibilities and worldview of all of us."

14 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20241
2023244
2022672
202192
2020142
2019141