Critical Review on the Idea of Dystopia

Abstract

The purpose of this review is firstly to show the formation of dystopia that finds its roots in utopia. Then, the foundation of dystopian fiction from the perspectives of such critics as Chad Walsh, Tom Moylan, Mark R. Hillegas, and Erika Gottlieb, among some others, is investigated. Finally, we briefly reveal the standing of Aldous Huxley, Kurt Vonnegut, and Don DeLillo, among many other dystopian writers, in depiction of dystopian societies. This study also attempts to explain how works of these three writers were revolutionary in their challenging of the new values that led to the degradation of human dignity.

The Orwellian Vision of Utopia

“…This shows how Orwell's journalistic work continuously shaped his literary one, to a point where it is impossible to understand one without the other. Just as such, as exposed by Babaee, Singh, Zhicheng & Haiqing (2015), it is impossible to understand the notion of dystopia without understanding that of utopia: a term coined by Sir Thomas More in the 1500s, which origins date (at least) as far back as Ancient Greece, with Plato's conception of the ideal form of social organisation (which he imagined as the lost civilisation of Atlantis). Therefore, dystopia can be understood as the degeneration of utopia, which in the mind of the authors studied in this article (and of many others that I have not the time or the space to study in this work) was provoked by the development of modern technologies and its effect on the human species.…”

Intimate Borders and the Sense of Never-Quite-Being: A Dystopic (Non-)Fiction

“…Dystopia, though, is a genre pregnant with lessons for its audiences (Babaee et al, 2015). This essay is an assemblage that reemploys theoretical elements, popular culture tropes, personal anecdotes, and narrative elements to study the academy.…”