Desire and Empathy in Twentieth-Century Dystopian Fiction

Abstract

Utopianism is an interdisciplinary concept which covers philosophy, sociology, literature, history of ideas, art and architecture, religion, futurology and other fields. While literary utopianism is usually dated from Thomas More's Utopia (1516), communitarian movements and ideologies proposing utopian ends have existed in most societies through history. They imagine varied ideal beginnings of the species, like golden ages or paradises, potential futures akin to the millennium, and also ways of attaining similar states within real time. Utopianism, in the sense of striving for a much improved world, is also present in many trends in contemporary popular movements, and in phenomena as diverse as films, video games, environmental and medical projections. Increasingly utopia shares the limelight with dystopia, its negative inversion, and with projections of the degeneration of humanity and nature alike. This series will aim to publish the best new scholarship across these varied fields. It will focus on original studies of interest to a broad readership, including, but not limited to, historical and theoretical narratives as well as accounts of contemporary utopian thought, interpretation and action.More information about this series at

الهلع السامي في رواية حكاية الجارية للكاتبة مارجريت أتود

“…Reingard M. Nischik (2019) tackles the issue of the prohibition of writing and print culture in Gilead and focuses on how women are forbidden to read and write. Thomas Horan (2018) offers a reading of the novel as a projection of the political fiction of the twentieth century. He sees that 1985 The Handmaid's Tale predicts the policies of Donald Trump's alliance with the Evangelical right.…”

The Sublime Terror in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale

“…Reingard M. Nischik (2019) tackles the issue of the prohibition of writing and print culture in Gilead and focuses on how women are forbidden to read and write. Thomas Horan (2018) offers a reading of the novel as a projection of the political fiction of the twentieth century. He sees that 1985 TheHandmaid's Talepredicts the policies of Donald Trump's alliance with the Evangelical right.…”

Social Critique in Merdeka Short Story by Putu Wijaya: A Dystopian Literature Approach

“…Social critique in postmodern literature also uses the term dystopia to describe a post-industrial society considered to have a high concept of self-interest and class. People like this tend to justify any means to meet their needs and goals, without considering the consequences of their actions on the environment (Horan, 2018;Seeger & Davidson-Vecchione, 2019).…”