Dystopia and Dystopian Literature

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Sean Seeger (University of Essex)

Ed. by Cristina Sandru, The Literary Encyclopedia
The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

Domains

Literature Topic
Movements, styles and periods (literature)

Dates

Date of occurrence c.1850-

Places

Europe (Location)
Asia - South (Involved)
Australia (Involved)
Canada (Involved)
United States (Involved)

Genres and Modes

Utopian / Dystopian

I. Dystopia and utopia

A utopia is an imagined social order in which human flourishing has either been perfected or realised to an exceptionally high degree. A dystopia, by contrast, is a radically dysfunctional society in which the lives of the inhabitants are significantly impaired, damaged, or otherwise undesirable. Despite being defined as opposites, however, these two terms can be seen to stand in a complex, historically variable relationship to one another. The term “dystopia”, it is important to note, is derivative of the term “utopia”, both conceptually and historically. “Utopia” was first used by Thomas More in his influential political satire Utopia (1516),…

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6145 words

Citation: Seeger, Sean. "Dystopia and Dystopian Literature". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 May 2018 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19513, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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