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While literary utopias depict an ideal society and reflect an optimistic belief in the triumph of humanity and government, dystopias present a society marked by suffering caused by human and political evils. This book offers a detailed study of several literary dystopias and analyzes them as social criticism. The volume begins with a discussion of utopias, dystopias, and social criticism. By drawing upon the theories of Freud, Nietzsche, and others, Booker sets a firm theoretical foundation for the literary explorations that follow. The chapters that come next discuss Zamyatin's
We, Huxley's
Brave New World, and Orwell's
1984 as social criticism of totalitarianism, Stalinism, the dangers of capitalism, and fascism. Later chapters consider dystopias after World War II, contemporary communist dystopias, and postmodernist dystopias in the West.
List of contents
Introduction: Utopia, Dystopia, and Social Critique
Zamyatin's We: Anticipating Stalin
Huxley's Brave New World: The Early Bourgeois Dystopia
Orwell's 1984: The Totalitarian Dystopian after Stalin
The Bourgeois Dystopia after World War II
Postmodernism with a Russian Accent: The Contemporary Communist Dystopia
Skepticism Squared: Western Postmodernist Dystopias
Postscript: Literature and Dystopia
Works Cited
About the author
M. Keith Booker is Professor of English at the University of Arkansas, USA. His recent publications include Star Trek: A Cultural History (2018), Tony Soprano’s America: Gangsters, Guns, and Money (2017) co-authored with Isra Daraiseh and Mad Men: A Cultural History (2016) with Bob Batchelor. He received his PhD in English from the University of Florida in 1990.
M. KEITH BOOKER is Professor of English at the University of Arkansas. He is the author of numerous articles and books on modern literature and literary theory, including Dystopian Literature: A Theory and Research Guide (1994), Bakhtin, Stalin, and Modern Russian Fiction: Carnival, Dialogism, and History (1995), The Dystopian Impulse in Modern Literature: Fiction as Social Criticism (1994), and The Modern British Novel of the Left: A Research Guide (1998), all available from Greenwood Press.
