Dystopian Fiction

Dystopian fiction is a unique form of speculative fiction, tied closely with science fiction, that arose mainly as a counter to utopias and utopian fiction. As Jill Lepore, a professor of history at Harvard, explained, “dystopias follow utopias the way thunder follows lightning” (Lepore, 2017). However, whereas utopias describe ideal worlds, dystopias portray societies in which utopian values have disintegrated into dehumanizing (MasterClass Staff, 2021). In utopian societies, everything has gone right; in dystopian societies, everything has gone wrong. Lepore simplified the sentiment, stating “a utopia is a paradise, a dystopia a paradise lost” (Lepore, 2017). The perfections often seen in utopias are distorted in a Coraline-esque fashion in dystopias, with freedoms becoming oppression and choices becoming forced. 

 

Interestingly, dystopian fiction is often considered more likely than utopian fiction (Atwood, 1982); people can more easily believe in a world that has been destroyed than one that is perfect. Margaret Atwood wrote on this phenomenon in the eighties, saying that “utopias we can only imagine; dystopias we’ve already had” (Atwood, 1982). This also highlights the ability of dystopian fiction to mirror reality, albeit often in perverse ways, and force the readers to address potential issues within their own communities (Ames, 2013). In this fashion, dystopian fiction also often serves as a warning about the dangers of current policies, leaders, and structures in the time of its production. 

 

Dystopias are heavily reflective of the present, “about what’s happening right this minute in the stormy psyche” of the reader (Miller, 2010). As Lepore said, “pick your present-day dilemma; there’s a new dystopian novel to match it” (Lepore, 2017); as society progresses, so do dystopias. A dystopian novel written during the cold war may focus on a post-apocalyptic world of nuclear annihilation (like Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien) or a world in which a corrupted form of socialism dominates (Animal Farm by George Orwell). Comparatively, a dystopian novel written in industrialization and the technology boom may speculate on the dangers of digitizing everything (like Ready Player One by Ernest Cline) or scientific inventions exceeding morality (like Brave New World by Aldous Huxley). A mirror through which readers can examine society, dystopias are exaggerated, horribly flawed worlds that serve to counter the naive idealism of utopias.