I. What is Utopia and Dystopia?

Dystopia as the Method of Predicting the Future.

By Savelii Nevzorov

Contents

I. What is Utopia and Dystopia?................................................................................................3

II. “We” by Evgeniy Zamyatin..................................................................................................4

III. “1984” by George Orwell....................................................................................................6

IV. “The Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley.......................................................................9

V. “The Time Machine” by H.G Wells.....................................................................................11

VI. Conclusion...........................................................................................................................12

VII. Glosary...............................................................................................................................14

Bibliography..............................................................................................................................17

I. What is Utopia and Dystopia?

Utopia is a genre of literature that is close to science fiction. It describes author's view on the model of an ideal society. It is characterized by belief in the perfection of the model. Writing in the genre of utopia author should not recognize the weaknesses of his theory, since the slightest flaw will call into question the concept of perfection of the state represented.

The origins of the genre were laid by ancient philosophers, whose works were devoted to the creation of ideal state. The most famous of these is the "Republic" written by Plato, in which he describes the ideal state built in the image of Sparta. Plato's State characterized by the lack of drawbacks of Sparta, such as rampant corruption, the constant threat of slave revolts, a permanent outflow of citizens, etc. The heyday of the genre of Utopia occurs during the Renaissance, when the enlightened civil society was seriously considering the possibility of creating an ideal state, offering more and more new models of development. One of the most famous ideas introduced by the utopians is utopian socialism.

Due to criticism of the ideas of utopian socialism a concept of dystopia appears. Pessimistic revision of utopian ideals and its social and political aspects and ethical implications of scientific and technical progress destroys the utopian illusions. The Industrial Revolution brings new social issues and problems, which utopians prefer do not pay attention to. According to Starrs and Wright, utopia and dystopia may be identified as follows:

“Utopias and dystopias demonstrate the practical frailties of attempts to build better human associations, whether as literature efforts or in actual, on-the-ground experiment.” (2005, p. 97)

Dystopia acquires its main features: the idea of "defect" in described society, which at first glance may be not visible; unshakable power of the state; focuse on the person, his problems and experiences, due to utopians were usually writing about the state itself, without any personal perspective; dystopia describes the totalitarian and isolated state, which want to stop its citizens to experience any feelings. The author describes a world that simply should not exist; impossibility of resistance. Image of helplessness of the person before the state.

The emergence and development of the dystopia presented readers a surprising number of different imagined worlds. Here is Evegeny Zamyatin's sterile socialism, or George Orwell's totalitarian world destroyed by the war, or even Aldous Huxley's world of capitalism where the class division plays the key role in social life, or world of the future described by Herbert G. Wells, in which people have lost human form due to technological advances.

The most interesting part is that different events that authors of dystopias were writing about eventually occurred. It is not about the appearance of totalitarianism in the world, but about various inventions and events that took place later than it was actually presented in the books. The authors conducted a diligent analysis of the human community to portray truthfully the possible existence of dystopian worlds. It is possible, that personal experience helped the authors of the genre to look into the future and anticipate some of the events in advance. Possibly, dystopia writers were able to predict the future through their books.

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