Dystopian
Genre: Close Study of Dystopian Genre
The dystopic novel evinces a strong theme common in much science fiction and fantasy fiction, the creation of a future time (usually), when the conditions of human life are exaggeratedly bad due to deprivation, oppression or terror. This created society or ‘dystopia’ frequently constructs apocalyptic views of a future using crime, immorality or corrupt government to create or sustain the bad quality of people’s lives, often conditioning the masses to believe their society is proper and just, and sometimes perfect. It can provide space for heroism in disrupting the dystopian setting. Most dystopian fiction takes place in the future but often purposely develops contemporary social trends taken to extremes. Dystopias are frequently written as commentaries, as warnings or as satires, showing current trends extrapolated to nightmarish conclusions.
A brief note on the etymology of ‘Dystopia’
The Oxford English Dictionary reports that the term ‘Dystopia’ was first used in the late 19th century by British philosopher John Stuart Mill. He also used Jeremy Bentham 's synonym, ‘cacotopia’. The prefix caco means ‘the worst.’
Both words were created in apposition to utopia, a word coined by Sir Thomas Moore to describing an ideal place or society.
DYSTOPIA: definition dys-/dus- (Latin/Greek roots: 'bad ' or 'abnormal ') + -topos (Greek root: 'place ') = 'bad place ' eu- (Greek root: 'good ') / ou- (Greek root: 'not ') + -topos (Greek root: 'place ') = 'good/no place ' dystopia n. an imaginary wretched place, the opposite of utopia utopia n. a place or state of ideal perfection, the opposite of dystopia
Some writers see the difference between a Utopia and a Dystopia often lying in the reader/visitor 's point of view: One person 's heaven being another 's hell.
The History of Dystopian Literature
The term "utopia" originated in the early 1500s as an idea created by Sir Thomas More and refers to a
The dystopic novel evinces a strong theme common in much science fiction and fantasy fiction, the creation of a future time (usually), when the conditions of human life are exaggeratedly bad due to deprivation, oppression or terror. This created society or ‘dystopia’ frequently constructs apocalyptic views of a future using crime, immorality or corrupt government to create or sustain the bad quality of people’s lives, often conditioning the masses to believe their society is proper and just, and sometimes perfect. It can provide space for heroism in disrupting the dystopian setting. Most dystopian fiction takes place in the future but often purposely develops contemporary social trends taken to extremes. Dystopias are frequently written as commentaries, as warnings or as satires, showing current trends extrapolated to nightmarish conclusions.
A brief note on the etymology of ‘Dystopia’
The Oxford English Dictionary reports that the term ‘Dystopia’ was first used in the late 19th century by British philosopher John Stuart Mill. He also used Jeremy Bentham 's synonym, ‘cacotopia’. The prefix caco means ‘the worst.’
Both words were created in apposition to utopia, a word coined by Sir Thomas Moore to describing an ideal place or society.
DYSTOPIA: definition dys-/dus- (Latin/Greek roots: 'bad ' or 'abnormal ') + -topos (Greek root: 'place ') = 'bad place ' eu- (Greek root: 'good ') / ou- (Greek root: 'not ') + -topos (Greek root: 'place ') = 'good/no place ' dystopia n. an imaginary wretched place, the opposite of utopia utopia n. a place or state of ideal perfection, the opposite of dystopia
Some writers see the difference between a Utopia and a Dystopia often lying in the reader/visitor 's point of view: One person 's heaven being another 's hell.
The History of Dystopian Literature
The term "utopia" originated in the early 1500s as an idea created by Sir Thomas More and refers to a
Cited: Frye, Roland Mushat. (1970). Shakespeare: The Art of the Dramatist. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston. Greenblatt, Stephen. (2004) Will in the World. W.W. Norton and Company, New York, London.