Topic
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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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse how Atwood constantly shifts our perceptions between that which appears utopian and that which seems dystopian in the novel's setting, which allows for an examination of the fragile nature of an ecological ethic of care in the kind of post-modern world Atwood envisages.
Abstract: Margaret Atwood's 2003 speculative novel, Oryx and Crake, incorporates into a futuristic tale disparate elements taken from current ecological concerns. Her clever intermingling of utopian science with its dystopian effects makes this novel a particularly rewarding text through which to engage with current ecological philosophies, particularly those developed by Val Plumwood and other thinkers interested in how ecological thinking can suggest an ethic of respect for the Other. This paper analyses how Atwood constantly shifts our perceptions between that which appears utopian and that which seems dystopian in the novel's setting. This allows for an examination of the fragile nature of an ecological ethic of care in the kind of post-modern world Atwood envisages. Furthermore, by calling into question the utopian dreams of the scientist Crake in the novel, Atwood engages with two significant areas in the ecocritical debate – instrumentalism and the opposition of ‘human culture’ with ‘nature’. This p...
12 citations
TL;DR: In the drama of conscious existence, it is not theory and practice that encounter each other, but enigma and transparency, phenomenon and insight as mentioned in this paper. And if enlightenment does occur, it does so no through the establishment of a dictatorship of lucidity but as the dramatic self-illumination of existence.
Abstract: In the drama of conscious existence, it is not theory and practice that encounter each other, but enigma and transparency, phenomenon and insight. If enlightenment does occur, it does so no through the establishment of a dictatorship of lucidity but as the dramatic self-illumination of existence. – Peter Sloterdijk
12 citations
Journal Article•
12 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the author departs from an ethnographic experience involving the kharisiri, a dystopian, fat-stealing monster of the Bolivian Andes that has been analyzed by generations of anthropologists.
Abstract: The article departs from an ethnographic experience involving the kharisiri, a dystopian, fat-stealing monster of the Bolivian Andes that has been analyzed by generations of anthropologists to unde...
12 citations
TL;DR: In the classic twentieth-century dystopias, which end either in an actual death, like that of the Savage in Huxley's Brave New World (1932), or in a spiritual death like Winston Smith's in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), any glimmers of hope that the protagonist may have felt are quickly destroyed.
Abstract: Abandon hope all ye who enter here: a society cannot be truly dystopian if travellers can come and go freely. Anti-utopias and 'satirical utopias' - that is, societies considered perfect by their advocates but not by the implied reader - must be well-regulated enough to prevent the possible disruption caused by a visitor. There is no exit at all from the classic twentieth-century dystopias, which end either in an actual death, like that of the Savage in Huxley's Brave New World (1932), or in a spiritual death like Winston Smith's in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). Any glimmers of hope that the protagonist may have felt are quickly destroyed.
12 citations