Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The addition of the word "dystopia" to our common, everyday vocabulary is indicative of both a dark turn taken by our popular culture, and a broader pessimistic turn in the general mood. As evidenced by the success of dark cinematic visions of the future-from Blade Runner (1982), to the Terminator sequence, to the Matrix trilogy-something in our natures respond to stories based in such visions of the future. The events of recent times -- September 11, 2001 being the most telling example - and their attendant sharpening of focus on such concepts as national security versus the privacy of citizens, have certainly contributed to the pervasive sense of anxiety that seems to have developed in our society, and which seems so readily to find catharsis in dystopian dramas. However, as this volume shows, the concept of dystopia is much older. To be dystopian, a work needs to foreground the oppressive society in which it is set, using that setting as an opportunity to comment in a critical way on some other society, typically that of the author and/or the audience. In other worlds, the bleak dystopian world should encourage the reader or viewer to think critically about it, then to transfer this critical thinking to his or her own world.

Dystopias in literature. --- Utopias in literature. --- Fiction --- Science fiction --- Science fiction films --- Literature and society. --- History and criticism. --- 82-313.2 --- Utopische roman --- 82-313.2 Utopische roman --- Dystopias in literature --- Literature and society --- Utopias in literature --- Utopian literature --- Literature --- Literature and sociology --- Society and literature --- Sociology and literature --- Sociolinguistics --- Metafiction --- Novellas (Short novels) --- Novels --- Stories --- Novelists --- History and criticism --- Social aspects --- Philosophy --- Languages & Literatures --- Literature - General --- Extrapolative films --- Future films (Science fiction films) --- Sci-fi films --- Sci-fiers (Motion pictures) --- Motion pictures --- Science --- Science stories --- Future, The, in literature