A dystopian world

Thomas More wrote De optimo reipublicae statu deque nova insula Utopia in 1516

Environmental (CliFi)

War, totalitarian regimes

"1984" by George Orwell

Contagion, Pandemics

The Walking dead by Robert Kirkman et al.

Feminism

The Handmaid's tale by Margaret Atwood

The protagonist

"The chosen one"

has abilities that sets him or her apart from others in society.

"The conflicted one"

is troubled by what they see or experience in their society.

"The catalyst"

Brings about change by challenging their situation and sometimes causing the downfall of their society.

Winston Smith

Katniss Everdeen

Neo 

Wich of theese characters do you think is "the chosen one, "the conflicted one" and "the catalyst"?

The antagonist

Often the state is the antagonist

They often center around paranoia and control.

Two minute hate -  1984

The citizens get to vent their hatred and anguish toward Emmanuel Goldstein.

Public enemy number one.

Common dystopian themes

Control

Propaganda

Class

Technology

Drugs

Sexuality

Group - individual

Dehumanisation

Dystopian literature is social criticism!

It is important that we understand that even though dystopian novels or stories take place in the future or even on different planets, the author's intent is to shine a light on what is happening in her or his own society.

Always consider what time and circumstance the author is writing about.

We

1924

The main character D-503, a spaceship engineer, is writing a  journal while he is building the spaceship "Integral".

He lives in the One state, a city made of glass where people march like robots to their jobs. All wearing the same uniform

All people are given a number code instead of a name.

Jevgenij Zamjatin

1884 - 1937

The first world war

The Russian revolution

Industrialism

1932

The events of the story take place

600 years A.F (After Ford)

Society is industrialized

and the citizens live in a hierarchy.

Bernard Marx , an Alpha plus psychologist seems to be the only person not happy with life.

The citizen take Soma, a recreational drug and also engage in recreational sex.

Aldous Huxley

1894-1963

H.G Wells

Youth culture in the US
 

The first world war

Industrialism

Kallocain

1940

The chemist Leo Kall has developed a truth serum.

In the totalitarian World-state

where he lives

everybody is controlled and surveilled.

The truth serum now robs people even of the privacy of their own minds.

Karin Boye

1900-1941

The period in between the world wars

She visited the

Soviet union

The rise of Nazism

1984

1949

Winston Smith works for the party in Oceania.

His job is to erase the truth and to make sure it fits the current circumstances.

One day Winstons starts journaling.

Just to own a journal is punishable by death.

George Orwell

1903-1950

(Eric Blair)

The Second world war

Communism

We by Zamjatin

"Doublespeak"

Dystopian literature often contains new terminology for different things. They can tell us something about the society in this world.

"Doublespeak" in reality

Friendly fire

Neutralized

"Peacekeeping duties"

-Putin

"Alternative facts"

- Kellyanne Conway (for Trump)

"Doublespeak" in the Walking dead

Walkers

Lurchers

Biters

Roamers

....

but never Zombies!

The setting

The story can take place in our own time, in the future or the past.

A common theme is that the story takes place "AFTER" something has happened.

Try to find this "AFTER" in your stories.

The story might contain very advanced technology or none at all.

Post-apocalyptic societies

The rise of the YA dystopian genre!

Why so many Young Adult dystopian themed stories, why now?

A new genre emerges

Climate-fiction

or Cli-fi

Control/surveillance

Class/war/conflict

Pollution/Climate change

Threats of outbreaks/pandemics

Cataclysmic events

Let's take a look at how the Hunger Games triology reflects our modern world today. 

Let's read the short story 

Racing the Tide

by Craig DeLancey 

together

Ray Bradbury 1920-2012

Was an American writer and screenplay writer with Swedish ancestry, his mother was a Swedish immigrant.  Mostly known for his highly imaginative short stories and science fiction novels, he also wrote in other genres such as fantasy, horror and mystery fiction. His most famous work is the science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451.

He liked to read and write as a child and has said that Jules Verne and H.G. Wells inspired him to write science fiction. His writing style blend poetic language with nostalgia for childhood, social criticism and awareness of the hazards of runaway technology.  

The Pedestrian 

The Veldt

Kurt Vonnegut 1922-2007

Was an American writer, most famous for his darkly satirical, bestselling Science Fiction novel Slaughterhouse-five.  He grew up in Indianapolis, and even though he described himself as a pacifist, he enlisted in the US. Army in 1943 and was sent to Europe to fight in WWII.  He was caught by the Germans and sent to Dresden as a POW but survived the bombing of the city in 1945.  After returning to America he married his high school sweetheart and got a job at an electrical factory. His writing was inspired both by his experiences in the war as well as being a factory worker and his writing style is marked by a dark humor that highlight the horrors and ironies of 20th-century civilization.

Harrison Bergeron