Dystopia is a genre in fiction that critically depicts utopian societies. Authors of dystopias highlight and strengthen the most dangerous social tendencies from their point of view. In contrast to utopia, dystopias call into question the very possibility of building a perfect society.
A society in which negative tendencies of social development prevailed is called dystopian. Dystopian societies depicted in works of fiction are often characterized by a totalitarian political system that suppresses individuality. The authors of dystopias are trying to draw attention to the existing problems, which in the future can lead to catastrophic consequences.
Dystopia as a literary genre
The genre of dystopia originates from the satirical works of Swift, Voltaire, Butler, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Chesterton, etc. However, real dystopias began to appear only at the beginning of the 20th century. Globalization trends and the emergence of societies that are somewhat utopian (communist in the USSR and national socialist in Germany), forced the authors to turn to the genre of dystopia.
The German sociologist Erik Fromm called the novel Iron Heel by Jack London, published in 1908, the first dystopia. Dystopian novels appeared throughout the 20th century. The most famous of them are the novels "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, "1984" and "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradburry.
The origin of the term "dystopia"
Several decades before the first appearance of the term "dystopia", the term "kakotopia" (translated from the ancient Greek "bad", "evil") was used in a similar sense. It was first used by the English philosopher Jeremiah Bentham in 1818. Subsequently, this term was supplanted by the term "dystopia", but continues to be used periodically. The word "dystopist" was first used by the English philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill in 1868 in a speech to the British House of Commons.
The term "dystopia" as the name of a literary genre was introduced by Glenn Negley and Max Patrick in the book "In Search of Utopia." The name "dystopia" arose as an opposition to the word "utopia" coined by Thomas More. In his 1516 book Utopia, More describes a state with an ideal social order. Mora's novel gave the name to the genre that unites works about perfect and absolutely just states. By the 19th century, the genre of utopia had exhausted itself, moreover, the opinion was established that any attempt to build a utopian society would lead to dire consequences.
The genre of dystopia is in some way a continuation of the genre of utopia. But if utopian novels described positive features of society, then dystopias are concentrated on negative social trends.
In the mid-1960s, the term "dystopia" appears in Soviet literary criticism, and a little later in Western criticism.
