Dystopian Literature Research Articles

Flipping Tropes & Subverting Stereotype Priming in The Hunger Games Trilogy

This is a review paper on the apparent force of commercial success and social media presence being a key in the changes of female representation in popular culture using The Hunger Games dystopian trilogy’s global commercial success and its impact as case in point. It argues that the trilogy’s commercial success is valuable in helping normalise the flipped gender roles or subverting the stereotypical gender primes. While dystopian literature supposedly features worlds and societies beyond typical real-life rules, many parts of that fictional world will still exhibit traits and beliefs contemporary to its author and resonate with its audience. The normalisation of gender stereotypes can often be seen in characters and social dynamics portrayed repeatedly throughout other forms of media communication. These and other literary works carry within it these stereotypical traits or behaviours a shorthand frame of reference which are called tropes. In this paper, the tropes are viewed through the sociological lens called stereotype priming which is the perpetuation of stereotypes through systemic means targeting certain behaviours, traits or beliefs. This paper looks at instances of tropes exhibiting priming functions within the dystopian world of not just The Hunger Games trilogy and how the commercial success of the empowered female has paved the way for more positive female representation in popular media culture since then. This lens has been expanded to take into account how The Hunger Games trilogy continues to have relevance post-pandemic regarding issues that current facts have brought dangerously close to dystopian fiction. Keywords: Dystopian narrative, gender, popular media, popular culture, stereotypes.

Bearing Witness: Gender, Fundamentalism, and the Construction of History in Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale and Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran

Objectives: This paper examines the feminist testimonial depiction of patriarchy and fundamentalism in The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood and Reading Lolita in Tehran (2004) by the Iranian writer Azar Nafisi.
 Methods:. This paper incorporates diverse ideas about dystopian literature, testimony, and feminist criticism by situating the individual in communion with a collective experience marked by marginalization, oppression, or resistance.
 Results: Each book possesses its own narrative conventions of space, time, and character. While The Handmaid's Tale is a feminist dystopia which imagines a future United States governed by a totalitarian theocracy, Reading Lolita in Tehran is a realistic account of a university professor about her life during the fundamentalist revolution in The Republic of Iran.
 Conclusions: What these apparently two disparate texts have in common is that they attack patriarchy in all its forms, giving testimonial voice to the otherwise voiceless, with hope of promoting political change in contemporary societies.

The dystopian elements of government in Orwell's Novel 1984

The paper focuses on the dystopian elements of government as depicted in Orwell’s novel 1984. Generally, dystopia appears in the abuse of power, manipulation, exploitation, and injustice in man's attempt to achieve a perfect society. This paper deals with how dystopian literature depicts the flaws of those seemingly utopian societies in Orwell's 1984. It shows how people fall victim to the dystopian government policy and its games, exposing peoples’ lives to danger and even death. In brief, it shows the slow decay of life and self as reflected in dystopian literature which portrays a frightening vision of a revolutionary world, generally controlled by knowledge and a dictatorial ruling government that uses any possible means to utilize iron-handed power over its people; this is done through the discussion of how Orwell depicted the elements of dystopian government like family and sex, repression, religion, control of information, society, psychological manipulation, and technology in his novel.

Mothers and Murderers: Adults' Oppression of Children and Adolescents in Young Adult Dystopian Literature. Malin Alkestrand

<i>Mothers and Murderers: Adults' Oppression of Children and Adolescents in Young Adult Dystopian Literature</i>. Malin Alkestrand

Integrating competence and Bildung through dystopian literature: Teaching Malorie Blackman’s Noughts &amp; Crosses and democracy and citizenship in the English subject

Artikeln behandlar användningen av dystopisk litteratur för ungdomar i engelskämnet i Norge och kopplar detta till det tvärvetenskapliga temat demokrati och medborgarskap. Detta tema är centralt i den nyligen reviderade läroplanen i Norge och är en viktig del av skolans mandat – utbildning måste säkerställa att eleverna är redo att delta i ett demokratiskt samhälle med kunskap, färdigheter och kritiskt tänkande när de har avslutat gymnasiet. När man arbetar med litteratur på detta sätt är det möjligt att integrera kompetens och bildning i klassrummet: specifik kunskap och kompetensutveckling kopplas till en värdebaserad utbildning som syftar till att hjälpa studenter i deras individuella utveckling.

Dystopian Games: Diagnosing Modernity as the Scene of Tests, Trials and Transformations

Emergent genres can serve as diagnoses of society, particularly dystopias which exaggerate yet articulate problematic elements within modernity. Herein the focus is on ‘dystopian games’, particularly The Hunger Games and Squid Game, part of a wider genre emerging in contemporary culture wherein dystopia is not just totalitarian, oppressive or ideological, but also requires its protagonists to participate in contests and trials which transform them. Arguably, the global success of these texts reflects the cultural resonance of their diagnosis of the contemporary world as itself the ‘scene of a trial’ in Boltanski’s phrase. Following Stark on the sociology of tests, dystopian games can be related to the proliferation of intense competition in education and the labour market, relentless trials and evaluations at work and the contests for attention and popularity on social media. Building a dialogue between social theory and dystopian literature inspired by Foucault’s work on ‘truth-telling’ and ‘transformations’, what emerges is a vision of ubiquitous transformations created by compulsory participation in trials and tests, less emancipatory or self-actualizing than a nightmare.

Mothers and Murderers: Adults' Oppression of Children and Adolescents in Young Adult Dystopian Literature by Malin Alkestrand (review)

Mothers and Murderers: Adults' Oppression of Children and Adolescents in Young Adult Dystopian Literature by Malin Alkestrand (review)

Recuperando a esperança em meio à escuridão: o papel do gênero em narrativas distópicas

Meu objetivo é comentar a distopia a partir de uma abordagem que tem destacado, desde o início, questões de escrita em suas intersecções com questões de gênero e da desconstrução da alta e da baixa cultura. Na primeira parte do artigo, desenvolvo uma reflexão sobre o gênero da distopia, seus elementos constitutivos e suas transformações, com um olhar específico para sua dimensão de gênero, suas características formais e temáticas, bem como seus modos de articular horizontes de esperança. Na segunda parte, eu reflito sobre as convenções e desenvolvimentos da distopia, me apoiando nos estudos de Lyman Sargent (1994, 2022), em meu próprio trabalho e junto com Tom Moylan (2003, 2020), e os de Ildney Cavalcanti (2000), Ruth Levitas (2007). Entendo que a distopia permanece sendo um termo para um gênero literário distinto, com sua história particular, suas características formais, mas também sua forma evolutiva. Na terceira parte do artigo, analiso o romance de Leni Zumas, As horas vermelhas: para que servem as mulheres, como exemplo das distopias críticas produzidas hoje. Finalmente, concluo que, em tempos sombrios, a literatura distópica se torna ainda mais importante para nós, oferecendo tanto as ferramentas quanto o incentivo necessário para que interpretemos criticamente e transformemos nosso presente.

МОТИВ КАТАСТРОФІЗМУ В ПОЕТИЦІ АНТИУТОПІЧНОГО ЖАНРУ: КАДЗУО ІШІҐУРО І ЯРОСЛАВ МЕЛЬНИК

The article examines the concept of catastrophe as an art theme, which is extremely relevant in our time and is also marked by the entropy features. We can confirm that this phenomenon grows and affects many spheres of human life, both external (global, social) and internal (psychological). The author of the article focuses on how modern dystopia reflects an awareness of a catastrophe, which is happening or has already happened. We have analyzed two novels from this point of view: “Masha, or the Fourth Reich” by the French writer of Ukrainian origin Yaroslav Melnyk and “Never Let me Go” by the English writer of Japanese origin Kazuo Ishiguro. The article emphasizes that the dystopias of our time correct classical dystopia attitudes, because they tend to the diffusion of new genres, acquiring the features of a parable novel, a myth novel, an alternative history fiction, and a philosophical novel. We have also noted the controversial nature of new formations, which combine signs of utopia and dystopia. Regarding the ideological and thematic component, the author of the article states that Ya. Melnyk and K. Ishiguro focus on the traditional problems of humanism and the relationship between “man and society” and on individual’s catastrophic depopulation issues in the conditions of nowadays turbulent challenges. The purpose of the article is to study the specificity of catastrophism artistic embodiment in the novels “Masha, or the Fourth Reich” by Yaroslav Melnyk and “ Never Let me Go ” by Kazuo Ishiguro and its functions in the structure of the dystopia genre. To achieve this goal we used historical-literary, cultural-historical and hermeneutic research methods. It was determined that the catastrophism motif realization in the dystopia genre contributes to searching for new experimental forms, activates the processes of transformation and diffusion in the genre creation field, paradoxically and organically combines classic and modern elements of dystopia, renewing the poetics of the genre. Conclusion. Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel “Never Let me Go” demonstrates a powerful example of genre synthesis: “stream of consciousness” coexists with the classic English estate novel, which is emphasized by confessional and allegorical intonations and does not prevent the writer from resorting to some possibilities of a detective story. Features of the traditional parable form and mythological genre are also observed. Fantastic elements are interspersed with realistic ones. But allegorical, mythological, fantastic, and realistic features organically coexist in the novel, reinforcing the author’s main ideas. Yaroslav Melnyk in his novel “Masha, or the Fourth Reich” successfully synthesizes an alternative history novel, an adventure novel and a classic philosophical novel. Here conflicting utopia and dystopia also organically coexist, reinforcing each other. A dystopia genre structure becomes open and acquires unlimited hybridization, losing its classical features and even postmodern boundaries. Thus, the catastrophic reality of the 21st century promotes the search for new experimental forms, activates unpredictable processes in the genre creation field, and paradoxically and organically combines classical and modern elements of literary art. Once again, modern dystopian literature shows that “common issue” as a social slogan cannot satisfy individual human needs. The problem of egocentrism with the insufficient development of the political machine is becoming more and more acute. As a general phenomenon, consumer society does not justify itself and makes the lives of its sons doomed. Unfortunately, the heroes of modern dystopias less and less often choose to fight and more often to humble themselves or flee, which is the main difference from their classical predecessors. The prospects of further work are to deepen the understanding of the causes of stylistic and substantive differences in dystopias, the influence of socio-cultural reality on modern dystopias genre synthesis, the differences in the methods of utopian representation and artistic means of enhancing catastrophization within stories framework.

Cathedral of Power: Battersea Power Station in Dystopian Visual Culture

Cathedral of Power: Battersea Power Station in Dystopian Visual Culture

SOCIAL CRITIQUE IN MERDEKA SHORT STORY BY PUTU WIJAYA: A DYSTOPIAN LITERATURE APPROACH

Changes in a society produce social critiques which in turn become a means of communicating new ideas in addition to assessing old ideas for social change, in short as a vehicle for the conservation and reproduction of a social system. Social critique can be conveyed through literary works; this is seen from the short story of Merdeka by Putu Wijaya. Through a dystopian literary approach and supported by related theories and concepts, it is revealed that this short story is full of social critiques as a result of the author's observations of his environment. The flow of dystopia is generally speculative, presenting a catastrophic or chaotic landscape of the future civilization of the world. Dystopian literature is always associated with socio-political discourse. Overall this research is carried out using a qualitative descriptive method with the aim of presenting a complete picture of the social setting and clarification of social phenomena in the short story of Merdeka and then synchronizing it with social reality. The results show that the forms of social critique conveyed by the author is lack of self-introspection, social gap and environmental damage. These three forms of social critique if uncontrolled can cause chaos in the social system because the main result is conflict, the color of dystopian literature.

Place dystopian in the novel (Anfal in the dinner banquet between God and Satan)

The place is an important part of the elements that make the technique and composition within the narrative text. The section of place in the novel always comes fully and effectively with the other features (time, event and character). With these fundamentals lies the importance of the element of place. This research is divided into two main parts, the first part is theoretical only and includes the concept of dystopia in detail and the history of its appearance in general and in the novel in particular, when did it appear? What are the reasons behind the emergence of dystopian literature? As for the second part of the research, it contains the theoretical and practical part, and it talks in general about the element of place and its types, and then its application in the novel (Anfal in the dinner banquet between God and Satan) As the novel is written in the Kurdish language and is considered one of the dystopian novels that talks about the tragedy of Anfal in detail, and we, in turn, in this part emphasize the concept of the place element Its types and application in the mentioned narration. At the end of the research, we reached a number of results, and then a list of footnotes and sources.

심리소설로서의 『우리들』

This thesis is an attempt to interpret Evgeny Zamyatin’s We, which was evaluated only as utopian literature and dystopian literature, with a new reading method. In terms of genre, this work is a text of a very complex and interesting phenomenon. In We, genre experimentation is done to the extreme. Wearing a utopia envelope, if you look closely, the genre elements of love novels, adventure novels, and psychological novels are organically intertwined with each other, and they have a structure that ultimately leads to a philosophical novel. Therefore, the expansion and deepening of the genre structure interpretation provides decisive moments in the interpretation of We. The reason is that this text is not simply a combination of several genre elements, but has an organic complex genre structure that allows in-depth interpretation of this text only by applying the framework of various genre structures. The important point in this context is that the interrelationships between genres do not proceed in parallel within this text, but rather organically as one genre flows out of another. The most basic genre structure in We as such a complex genre is the metafiction genre. We is a novel about writing novels, and the characteristic of this genre determines the basic narrative structure of this work. However, in the process of creating an epic poem, an unexpected transformation of the protagonist, that is, from a mathematician to a poet, occurs. This transformation process causes the main character’s ontological confusion and is accompanied by psychological agitation and pain. And the psychological confusion of the protagonist is now the main driving force for the novel. The literary expression of the confusion appears in the theme of the alter ego. And in the theme, various light motifs to represent the confusion of the main character constitute the semantic structure. This thesis aims to identify the in-depth semantic structure of this work by classifying the complex psychological novel devices in We.

On Sight, Technology, and Science Fiction: Transhumanist Visions in Contemporary Canadian Dystopia

This article examines a number of practices of observation as represented in contemporary Canadian dystopias in light of technological developments as seen by transhumanist thought. It argues that the transhumanist scopic practices that underlie their science-fictional imaginaries are in fact dystopian, and, as such, it takes examples from dystopian literature to illustrate how the nature of sight and seeing in the techno- and image-mediated context presents dangerous pitfalls for subject formation, identity politics, and agency. The article distinguishes between “vision” as a body of ideas and “sight” as the actual ways of seeing that may be reciprocal and create bonds of affectivity or, in the case of the transhumanist predicament, be instead founded on watching as the one-sided commodifying alternative.

Hope in the Age of Dystopia: The Ghost in the Machine in Øyvind Rimbereid's Solaris korrigert

Hope in the Age of Dystopia: The Ghost in the Machine in Øyvind Rimbereid's <i>Solaris korrigert</i>

THE DYSTOPIAN VISION IN BERNARD MALAMUD’S NOVEL GOD’S GRACE

This article seeks to analyze the dystopian vision in Bernard Malamud’s final novel God’s Grace (1982). An animal fable and fantasy in itself, the book centers on the last human survivor who interacts with primates, in order to create civilization anew by teaching them language, ethics, science and religion, with a major emphasis on the dualities of good and evil; reason and instinct, and their interconnectedness with free will, choice, and responsibility. The study begins with a short introduction into the history of dystopian literature, whose function is to serve, from a future perspective, as a social and political commentary about existing dark aspects, which can easily take over if not held in check. Then, the analysis probes into the dystopian features of the (covert and overt) totalitarian climate that reigns in the book, due to the human’s control of the animals through the mechanisms of language, culture, science, religion, and sexuality. The utopian society established is short-lived, as the denial of individualism inevitably brings about the primates’ rebellion and the demise of human civilization. Despite being the most pessimistic work of fiction by Malamud, the novel ends with hope, which is the case in many dystopian books.

Future of Work and Dystopian Literature: Thoughts and Reflections

Future of Work and Dystopian Literature: Thoughts and Reflections

Fear, Anxiety, Surveillance in Dystopias Revisited: A Retrotopian Perspective

The term dystopia has witnessed several new meanings including the one associated with the literature of the pandemic. These writings describe the scenes of fear, anxiety, and surveillance in flu-affected societies. This paper makes a qualitative study of a few selected novels published during 2000-2020 to understand the retrotopian perspective. No research has been carried out on pandemic dystopias with the retrotopian perspective. The dystopias selected for this study includes Whitehead’s Zone One (2011); Mandel’s Station Eleven (2014); DeLillo’s The Silence (2020) and most recent May’s Lockdown (2020). The findings reveal that each novelist preferred the retrotopian perspective, projecting an ideal past as the more plausible solution to their traumatic present. The protagonist in each of these four novels suffers traumas and witnesses the apocalypse both internally and externally, but each is engaged in a quest into the past and searching for the lost identity. This study fills up the research gap that currently exists in the field of dystopian literature related to the past or retrotopian studies. It would also open new avenues to explore the possibility of experimenting into devising a new theory or a genre of retrotopia.

Mary Shelley's The Last Man: Existentialism and IR meet the post-apocalyptic pandemic novel

AbstractMary Shelley mined the ideas of international thought to help develop three new subgenres of modern political science fiction (‘poliscifi’): post-apocalyptic, existential, and dystopian. Her two great works of poliscifi, Frankenstein (1818), and The Last Man (1826) – confront the social problems that arise from humanity's technological and cultural interventions in the wider environment. This article recovers The Last Man not only as the first modern post-apocalyptic pandemic novel, but also as an important source for the existentialist tradition, dystopian literature, and their intersections with what I call ‘Literary IR’. Comparing The Last Man with its probable sources and influences – from Thucydides and Vattel to Orwell and Camus – reveals Shelley's ethical and political concerns with the overlapping problems of interpersonal and international conflict. The Last Man dramatises how interpersonal conflict, if left unchecked, can spiral into the wider sociopolitical injustices of violence, war, and other human-made disasters such as species extinction, pandemics, and more metaphorical ‘existential’ plagues like loneliness and despair. Despite these dark themes and legacies, Shelley's authorship of the great plague novel of the nineteenth century also inspired a truly hopeful post-apocalyptic existential response to crisis and conflict in feminist poliscifi by Margaret Atwood, Octavia Butler, and Emily St. John Mandel.

Mothers and Murderers: Adults' Oppression of Children and Adolescents in Young Adult Dystopian Literature by Malin Alkestrand

Mothers and Murderers: Adults' Oppression of Children and Adolescents in Young Adult Dystopian Literature by Malin Alkestrand