DYSTOPIA
A LEVEL ENGLISH LITERATURE
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
TYPES OF DYSTOPIA
CONTEXT
COMMON THEMES
LITERARY FEATURES
AUTHORS
INTRODUCTION
UTOPIA
DYSTOPIA
Presents a negative view of future society and humankind as a warning against the author's concerns in their own society.
Sketch a future where technology improves the everyday life of human beings and advances civilisation.
CONTEXT
A key feature of dystopia is that, whatever the situation ostensibly described, the writer is probably criticising/warning against their concerns in their own society. They may often take place in the 'future' but they are really about the present (or the past).
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
AUTHORS
CLASSIC AUTHORS
- H.G. WELLS - A Modern Utopia (1904)
- YEVGENY ZAMYATIN - We (1924)
- ALDOUS HUXLEY - Brave New World (1932)
- GEORGE ORWELL - Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
Their works are regarded as some of the major canon works of 20th Century dystopian fiction. Critics have repeatedly noted the influence of these works on modern authors.
MODERN AUTHORS
- MARGARET ATWOOD - The Handmaid's Tale
- CHINUA ACHEBE - Things Fall Apart
- ANTHONY BURGESS - A Clockwork Orange
- URSULA K. LEGUIN - The Dispossessed
- ISSAC ASSIMOV - The Caves of Steel
- KURT VONNEGUT - Slaughterhouse-Five
- RAY BRADBURY - Fahrenheit 451
Dystopian fiction has remained commercially successful throughout the 20th Centry and into the 21st. The YA dystopian sub-genre has become particularly popular.
Listen
TYPES OF DYSTOPIA
COMMON THEMES
05
04
03
01
02
LOSS OF INDIVIDUALISM
GOVERNMENT CONTROL
TECHNOLOGICAL CONTROL
ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER
SURVIVAL
Technology goes beyond tools for improving every day life and is often depicted as a controlling, omnipresent force and is used as a fearmongering device.
Government plays a big role in dystopian fiction. Generally there is either no governmnet or an oppressive ruling body
How should the needs of a society as a whole compare to individual needs? Many dystopian novels depict the danger of conformity.
Dystopian novels are often let in places that are inhabitable, have been destroyed or are preparing to be.
The opressive powers and destruction in dystopian worlds often leave inhabitants to fend for themselves.
LITERARY FEATURES
Fallen utopia?
Narrative approach
Leitmotif
Satire
aesthetics
Is the author satirising a human failing or a feature of our society?
How do the aesthetics impact the characters and the mood?
How do the leitmotifs of dystopian fiction manifest?
Were their good intentions behind the regime or is it a dystopia proper?
Whose perspective is the novel from and how does that impact the reader?
Dystopia
Sophie Cooper
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Transcript
DYSTOPIA
A LEVEL ENGLISH LITERATURE
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
TYPES OF DYSTOPIA
CONTEXT
COMMON THEMES
LITERARY FEATURES
AUTHORS
INTRODUCTION
UTOPIA
DYSTOPIA
Presents a negative view of future society and humankind as a warning against the author's concerns in their own society.
Sketch a future where technology improves the everyday life of human beings and advances civilisation.
CONTEXT
A key feature of dystopia is that, whatever the situation ostensibly described, the writer is probably criticising/warning against their concerns in their own society. They may often take place in the 'future' but they are really about the present (or the past).
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
AUTHORS
CLASSIC AUTHORS
Their works are regarded as some of the major canon works of 20th Century dystopian fiction. Critics have repeatedly noted the influence of these works on modern authors.
MODERN AUTHORS
Dystopian fiction has remained commercially successful throughout the 20th Centry and into the 21st. The YA dystopian sub-genre has become particularly popular.
Listen
TYPES OF DYSTOPIA
COMMON THEMES
05
04
03
01
02
LOSS OF INDIVIDUALISM
GOVERNMENT CONTROL
TECHNOLOGICAL CONTROL
ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER
SURVIVAL
Technology goes beyond tools for improving every day life and is often depicted as a controlling, omnipresent force and is used as a fearmongering device.
Government plays a big role in dystopian fiction. Generally there is either no governmnet or an oppressive ruling body
How should the needs of a society as a whole compare to individual needs? Many dystopian novels depict the danger of conformity.
Dystopian novels are often let in places that are inhabitable, have been destroyed or are preparing to be.
The opressive powers and destruction in dystopian worlds often leave inhabitants to fend for themselves.
LITERARY FEATURES
Fallen utopia?
Narrative approach
Leitmotif
Satire
aesthetics
Is the author satirising a human failing or a feature of our society?
How do the aesthetics impact the characters and the mood?
How do the leitmotifs of dystopian fiction manifest?
Were their good intentions behind the regime or is it a dystopia proper?
Whose perspective is the novel from and how does that impact the reader?