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Although the role of law is a concern in countless literary genres, perhaps none is more preoccupied with the subject than dystopian fiction. Legal factors are at work, in highly distinctive ways, in almost all dystopian narratives, especially the central strain of dystopian literature, from Zamiatin to Suzanne Collins, depicting systematically oppressive governments. The presence of an oppressive legal system or more rarely, the lack of any functioning legal system, is a key instrument or cause whereby a horrific reality is brought into being. In short, there is either too little law or more often, too much law, too much bad law. Law either fails to protect or actively oppresses. Der Artikel charakterisiert (in englischer Sprache) das moderne Literatur-Genre des dystopischen Romans als zentrales Medium der literarischen Auseinandersetzung mit Fragen von Recht und Unrecht, insbesondere mit dem Problem der Perversion des Rechts in manifesten oder vorstellbaren Unrechtsregimes. Mitreflektiert wird die Relevanz des Genres im Kontext der Forschung über Literatur und Recht sowie insbesondere für verfassungsrechtliche Fragestellungen. Exemplarisch vorgestellt werden vierzehn dystopische Romane des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts.

While there are major works tracing the themes of belonging and longing for home in contemporary fiction, there is no current study adequately addressing the connection between dystopian novel and nostalgia. This paper aims to illustrate how the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood uses nostalgia as a framework to level a critique against technological utopianism in her dystopian novel Oryx and Crake (2003). The first novel in Atwood’s “MaddAddam Trilogy” problematizes utopian thought by focusing on the tension between two utopian projects: the elimination of all suffering and the perfection of human beings by discarding their weaknesses. Despite the claims of scientific objectivity and environmentalism, the novel exposes the religious and human-centered origins of Crake’s technological utopian project. Atwood’s Oryx and Crake is an ambiguous work of science fiction that combines utopian and dystopian elements into its narrative to criticize utopian thought.

This paper aims to analyze the women's rights in the Brazilian context, mainly, reproductive rights. So, to achieve this purpose, this paper through the combination of Law, philosophy, and Literature tries to rethinking why women can’t have a voice when the decisions about their rights are taken? Methodologically, it was used a bibliographical revision, the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, wrote by Margaret Atwood (2002) and the concepts of Homo sacer and state of exception developed by the philosopher Giorgio Agamben (1998; 2005) to illustrated how life-narratives can promote human rights.

The paper seeks to examine different forms and functions of storytelling in two selected dystopian novels, namely Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and Johanna Sinisalo’s The Core of the Sun (2016). Approaching the novels through the lens of dystopian fiction, the comparative analysis focuses on the use of language and storytelling as a form of resistance against oppression. Embedded in the very title of Margaret Atwood’s most famous novel, the motif of storytelling proves to be one of the central building stones of her narrative. Offred’s fragmentary, and often unreliable, tale not only provides a piercing portrait of a crude dystopian reality, it also symbolically challenges and undermines the authority of Gilead’s regime. Sinisalo’s Finnish weird novel also features a troubled young woman trapped in a dystopian system of government. She challenges and subverts the regime of the Eusistocratic Republic of Finland not only symbolically but also factually by secretly using and dealing the forbidden capsaicin as well as by living in disguise. Similarly to Atwood’s literary work, the narrative form of Sinisalo’s novel, largely defined by the protagonist’s subjective and fragmentary insights, provides a puzzle-like mediation of a firsthand experience of a troubled and troubling world.

L'article explora una sèrie de pràctiques d'observació tal com estan representades en les distopies canadenques contemporànies interrogant els avanços tecnològics des d'una òptica transhumanista. S'argumenta que les maneres de veure d'aquests imaginaris ciència-ficcionals són, de fet, distòpiques. L'article pren exemples de la literatura distòpica per a il·lustrar com la naturalesa de la visió i l'acte de veure, en un context de sobresaturació de la imatge i la tecnologia, presenta derives perilloses per a la formació del subjecte, la política d'identitat i l'agència. L'article distingeix entre “visió” com a cos d'idees i “vista” com les formes concretes de veure, que poden ser recíproques i crear llaços afectius o, en el cas transhumanista, basar-se en canvi en la mirada com un instrument d’ objectificació., This article examines a number of practices of observation as represented in contemporary Canadian dystopias in light of technological developments as seen by transhumanist thought. It argues that the transhumanist scopic practices that underlie their science-fictional imaginaries are in fact dystopian, and, as such, it takes examples from dystopian literature to illustrate how the nature of sight and seeing in the techno- and image-mediated context presents dangerous pitfalls for subject formation, identity politics, and agency. The article distinguishes between “vision” as a body of ideas and “sight” as the actual ways of seeing that may be reciprocal and create bonds of affectivity or, in the case of the transhumanist predicament, be instead founded on watching as the one-sided commodifying alternative., El artículo explora una serie de prácticas de observación tal y como están representadas en las distopías canadienses contemporáneas, interrogando los avances tecnológicos que allí se muestran desde una óptica transhumanista. Se argumenta que las formas de ver de estos imaginarios de ciencia ficción son, de hecho, distópicas. El artículo toma ejemplos de esta misma literatura para ilustrar cómo la naturaleza de la visión y del acto de ver, en un contexto de sobresaturación de la imagen y ubicuidad de las nuevas tecnologías, presenta derivas peligrosas para la formación del sujeto, la política de identidad y la agencia. El artículo distingue entre «visión» como conjunto de ideas y «vista» como formas concretas de ver, que pueden ser recíprocas y crear lazos afectivos o, en el caso transhumanista, basarse en cambio en la mirada como un instrumento de la objetificación.

Šī bakalaura darba galvenais mērķis ir veikt žanra analīzi Nīla Šustermana romānā Izkapts (2016) no distopijas skatupunkta, pētot un analizējot, kā distopijas jauniešu daiļliteratūras tēmas un iezīmes – futūristiska norises vieta, tehnoloģijas un kontrole, vardarbība un bailes, cerība un spēcīgi jaunieši kā galvenie tēli – ir ietvertas un interpretētas izvēlētajā romānā. Lai to sasniegtu, tika izmantotas šādas metodes: kritisks attiecīgās teorētiskās literatūras pārskats, un padziļināta lasīšana kā praktiskās darba daļas metode. Var secināt, ka abi pusaudžu vecuma galvenie tēli ir cerības iemiesojumi, spējīgi cīnīties pret korupciju un netaisnību par spīti emocionāli izaicinošajai apkārtējai videi., The main goal of this BA thesis is to perform a genre analysis of Neal Shusterman’s Scythe (2016) from the dystopian perspective by exploring and analysing how the dystopian young adult fiction themes and features – futuristic setting, technology and control, violence and fear, and strong teenage protagonists and hope – have been incorporated and interpreted in the novel under analysis. To achieve that, the following methods have been used: the critical review of relevant theoretical sources, and close reading as the empirical method. It can be concluded that the two teen protagonists of this novel are embodiments of hope capable of fighting against corruption and injustice despite their emotionally challenging environment.

In this article, I investigate the literary representation of the religious convictions and political strategy of neo-Nazi ideologues who are influential in rightwing authoritarian movements in the USA today. The reason that I do this is because in contemporary fascism, the novel has replaced the political manifesto, the military manual and proselytizing testimony, since fiction can evade censorship and avoid prosecution. I read William Luther Pierce’s Turner Diaries and Hunter together with his text on speculative metaphysics and religious belief, Cosmotheism. Then, I turn to Harold Covington’s Northwestern Quintet with The Brigade, reading this with Christian Identity and his own conception of Nazi religious tolerance. Finally, I look at OT Gunnarsson’s Hear the Cradle Song, reading this together with discussions of racism in Californian Odinism. I propose that what this literature shows is that the doctrinal differences between the three main strands of neo-Nazi religion—Cosmotheism, Christian Identity and Odinism—are less significant than their common ideological functions. These are twofold: (1) the sacralization of violence and (2) the sanctification of elites. The dystopian fictions of fascist literature present civil war scenarios whose white nationalist and genocidal outcome is the result of what are, strictly speaking, supremacist death cults.

James Graham Ballard was a contemporary British novelist who published a wide variety of works ranging from climate fiction to transgressive fiction. “The Ultimate City” (1976) is one of Ballard’s short stories that portrays a dystopian vision where a utopian urban experiment transforms into a catastrophe. The story tells the attempt of the protagonist, Halloway and his company to reanimate a city that was abandoned years ago due to oil depletion. Halloway aims to bring the city back to life through the limited amount of oil left in the city, only to confront chaos and disorder. Using the concepts of Ecotopia and petroculture, this article aims to explore the ways in which oil shapes and destroys modern societies and possible alternatives to this predicament in Ballard’s work. To this end, after a theoretical discussion of these concepts, the article examines the ecotopian features in the ecological community in the text and compares it to the consumerist culture of the metropolis; and later addresses the problem of oil that is an essential component of modern urban life. This part of the article reveals the degree of dependence on oil and the transformative power associated with it through examples from the story. The article argues that “The Ultimate City” is a premonition to the reader concerning the current energy politics that may culminate in a total disaster unless necessary steps are taken., James Graham Ballard, iklim kurgudan sınır aşımına kadar geniş bir yelpazede kurgusal eserler kaleme alan çağdaş bir İngiliz romancıdır. Ballard’ın “The Ultimate City” (1976) öyküsü, ütopik kentsel deneyin felakete dönüştüğü distopik bir portre çizen öykülerinden biridir. Hikâye, ana karakter Halloway ve yardımcılarının, petrolün tükenmesinden dolayı yıllar önce terk edilmiş bir kenti yeniden canlandırma çabalarını konu almaktadır. Halloway şehirde kalan kısıtlı miktarda petrol ile kenti yeniden yaşama döndürmeyi amaçlamaktadır ki bu amaç beraberinde sadece kaos ve karmaşa getirecektir. Makale, Ekotopya ve petrokültür kavramlarından yola çıkarak Ballard’ın eserinde petrolün modern toplumları nasıl şekillendirdiğini ve yok ettiğini inceleyecektir. Bu bağlamda, söz konusu kavramların teorik tartışmasının akabininde makale, öyküde bahsedilen ekolojik toplumun ekotopik özelliklerini irdelemekte ve bunları metropolisin tüketim kültürü ile karşılaştırmaktadır. Buna müteakip olarak, modern kentsel yaşamın vazgeçilmez bir unsuru olan petrol meselesi ele alınmaktadır. Çalışmanın bu kısmı petrole duyulan bağımlılık düzeyini ve bununla bağlantılı olarak petrolün dönüştürücü gücünü öyküden verilen örneklerle açığa çıkarmaktadır. Makale, “The Ultimate City”nin okura, gerekli önlemler alınmadığı takdirde güncel enerji politikalarının muazzam bir felakete yol açabileceğine dair öngörülü uyarısını aktardığını öne sürmektedir.

Umjetni su jezici oni koje kreira pojedinac ili grupa i osmišljeni su s određenom svrhom. Tako se jezici kao što su esperanto, lojban ili pak sindarin smatraju umjetnim jezicima, ali su kreirani u različite svrhe i odatle i njihova klasifikacija prema kojoj je esperanto internacionalni pomoćni jezik, lojban je logički, a sindarin pak umjetnički jezik. Dakako, postoje različite skupine umjetnih jezika i granice među njima nisu sasvim jasne i strogo određene. Razlog tome jest pridavanje važnosti jednim jezicima nauštrb drugih. Umjetničke jezike prvi je, iz estetskih razloga, koncipirao Tolkien i dao im je mjesto u svom izmišljenom svijetu. Osmislio je mnoge jezike, a najpoznatiji su vilenjački jezici quenyja i sindarin. Veliku važnost pridavao je imenima, a najvažnije mu je bilo kako će jezik zvučati, što je bilo važno i u slučaju klingonskog i dothrakija koji inače zvuče kao „grubi“ i „oštri“ jezici. Naravno, osim fonetskih i fonoloških, bitni su i ostali jezični elementi, ali i način na koji jezik djeluje na izvanjezičnu stvarnost, na kulturu, odnosno kako će govornici određenog jezika percipirati izvanjezičnu stvarnost. Tako se, primjerice, Trećićani izdavajaju u izoliranu zajednicu i jedinstveni sustav koji se promatra u odnosu Mi i Oni ili oni koji su Trećićani i oni koji nisu. Osim fantastike i znanstvene fantastike, umjetnički jezik prisutan je i u distopijskoj fikciji, i to kao potpuni sustav budućeg jezika koji se temelji na reduciranju i kontroliranju riječi ili pak kao slang i antijezik koji simbolizira pripadnost kontrakulturi mladih i suprotstavljanje autoritetu. Orwellov Newspeak iz 1984. oružje je u rukama totalitarnog sustava, a nadsat u Paklenoj naranči jezik je mlade i nasilne bande te služi za prepoznavanje outsidera i insidera, ali i na metajezičnoj razini nastoji smanjiti utjecaj nasilja. Danas je teško prebrojati sve umjetničke jezike jer postoje brojni priručnici, knjige i online-materijali pomoću kojih svatko može kreirati svoj jezik, što znači da umjetničke jezike mogu osmisliti profesionalci ili conlangeri te amateri koje ustrojstvo nekog novog jezika zanima samo zbog vlastitog zadovoljstva. Umjetni jezici našli su svoje mjesto u popularnoj kulturi kao umjetnički jezici u knjigama, televizijskim serijama, filmovima, video-igrama itd., koji stvaraju nove realnosti fiktivnog svijeta, ali i zrcale stvarnost realnog svijeta. Umjetnički jezik, artlang, tako komunikaciji daje jednu novu dimenziju koju čitatelji ili gledatelji, ovisno o tome u kojem se mediju artlang ostvaruje, znaju prepoznati i cijeniti i s kojom se, u određenom kontekstu i s određenom svrhom, žele i identificirati., Fictional languages are languages created by an individual or a group of people, and they are designed with a specific purpose. Languages such as Esperanto, Lojban, and even Sindarin are considered to be fictional languages, yet they are created for a different purpose. Hence, the classification of Esperanto being an international auxiliary language, Lojban being logical language, and Sindarin artistic language. There are different categories of fictional languages, and the division between them is not clearly and precisely defined. The reason is that some fictional languages are considered to be more important than the rest. Artistic languages first appeared, for aesthetic reasons, in Tolkien's works, who gave languages a place in his fictional world. Tolkien created multiple languages, but the most famous remain Elvish languages called Quenya and Sindarin. Tolkien saw the importance of names, and the most important part of language creation, to him, was the sound of the language. How the language will sound was an important factor in the creation of other fictional languages such as Klingon and Dothraki, which had to sound like "harsh" and "sharp" languages. Naturally, besides phonetical and phonological features, other important elements make a language, also the way language affects the extralinguistic reality, and culture, or how a speaker of a specific language will perceive the extralinguistic reality. For example, Trećićani separate themselves into an isolated community and a unique system which is observed through the relation of Us and Them, or those who are Trećićani and those who are not. Besides fantasy and science fiction, fictional language appears in dystopian fiction, as a complete system of future language, which is based on reduction and control of words, or it can appear as slang and anti-language that symbolizes affiliation to youth counterculture and opposition to the authority. Orwell's Newspeak from 1984. is a weapon in the hands of a totalitarian system, while Nadsat in Clockwork Orange represents a language of youth and a violent gang, which also serves as an indicator of outsiders and insiders, and on the metalinguistic level Nadsat tries to reduce the impact of violence. Nowadays it is hard to count all artistic languages because of the existence of multiple manuals, books, and online materials that help everyone who have an interest in fictional language to create one, which means artistic language can be created by a professional, known as conlanger, or amateurs who are interested in the function of language for their own pleasure. Fictional languages found their place in popular culture as artistic languages in books, tvseries, films, video games, etc., which create new realities of a fictional world and mirror the reality of the real world. Artistic language, or artlang, gives the communication a new dimension which readers or spectators, depending on the media where artlang appears, recognize, appreciate and, depending on the specific context with a specific purpose, want to identify with.

In her dystopian dark comedy The Heart Goes Last (2015), Margaret Atwood openly refers to Jeremy Bentham’s concept of the Panopticon. The future world depicted in her novel is filled with violence and deprived of both human bonds and hope. Hence, being contained, monitored and — after Foucault — disciplined and punished appears to be the characters’ last resort. Surveillance tempts both sexes as it is politically correct and universal, and it does not privilege one group of people over the other. The article discusses the dystopian vision of the near future as created by Atwood in her 2015 novel, with direct references to the conception of the Panopticon, both in its original meaning proposed by Bentham, and — more significantly — in Michel Foucault’s reading of this idea as a metaphor of the way western societies are organized.

The present article aims at examining the place of art, science, and storytelling in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake (2003), comparing the novel to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932) , mainly in what concerns some characters who are on the margins. In this context, scientific knowledge set against humanistic knowledge is the generating principle of social inequalities, and people concerned with arts are relegated to an inferior place. In the three novels, those who value words amid the techno-scientific developments of society are condemned to live alone for not fitting in. However, Oryx and Crake presents a possible rereading of Shelley’s and Huxley’s works, leading the central character to a less tragic closure, even though still in a devastated landscape. Ironically, in the aftermath of a pandemic, when the rules of science do no longer apply, it is a “words person” who survives, embracing his existence all through the act of storytelling. Atwood’s novel, therefore, celebrates and updates the classics in some way, transposing them to a brand-new universe, where – through her apocalyptic visions – it is also possible to make a parallel with the new coronavirus pandemic that we have faced in the real scenario.

���� ������������������ ������������ ������������������������ ������ ������������ ������������ �������� ���������������� ������ �������������������� ������ ������ (fan culture) �������� ������ �������������� ������������������ �������� ������ ������������������. ���� �������������� �������� ���������� ������ �������������������� ���� ������ �������������� ������ ������ (Fan culture studies) ���������� ������������������ ������ ���� ���������������� ���������� ������ �������� ������������������������ ������������ ��������������������o�� ������������������������, �������������������������������������� �������� ������ �������������� (fanart) ������ ������ ������ ������������������ (fanfiction) ������ ���������������������� ������ ������. ���� ������������������ ������ ������������������������������ ������ �������������������� ���������� ������ ������������������������ ������������ fanfiction �������������� ���� ���������������������� ���� ���� ������ �������������� ���� ���������������������� ������ ���� ���������� ������ ������ ���������������� fanfic �������� ���� ���������� ���� �������������������� ������ ������ �� ���������������������� ����������������, ������������������������ ������ ���������������������� �������������������� ���������� ������ ������������ ���� ������������������ �������������������� ������ �������������������� ���������������������������� ������������ ������ ������ ���������� �� �������������� ������ �� �������������� ������ �������������� ������ �������������������� ������������ ������ ������ �������������� �������������� ������ �������������� ������������������������ ���������� �������� ���� ���������������� ������ ���������������������� ������ ���������� ������ ������ ���������� ������ ������������������, �������������������� ������ �������������������� ������ ���������������� fanfiction. �� �������������� ������������������������ ���������������������� ���� ���������������������� ���������������� ������ �������� ������������ ������ �������� �������������� ���� �������� ������������ ������ ������������������ ������ ������������ ������������ (Susan Collins), ������������������������ �������������� �������������� (2008), �������������� (2009) ������ ���������������������������� (2010), �������������������� ���� �������� ������������ ���������� ���� ���������������������� ���������������������� ������ �������������������� ������ ������ ������ ������������ �������������� ���� ������������ ���� �������������� ������ ���������� �������� �������������� ������ ������������������������ ������������������. ������������������������ ������ ���������������� ��������������������, �� ���������������������� ������������������ ���� ������ ���������� ����������������, ���� ���� ���������������� ���������� ���� ���������������������������� �������� ������������������������ ������������������������ ���������������� �������� ������ �������������������� ������������ ������ ������������������������ �� ������������ ������ ���� ������ �������������� �������� ���������� �������� ������ ���� �������������������������� ������ ���������� �������� ���������������� �������������� ���� ���� ��������-�������������� �� �������� �������������������� ������ �������� �������� ������������������������. ���� ���������������� ������ ���������������� ������ �������������� ������ ������������������ ������ ������������ (Katniss) ������ ���� ���������� ������������ ���������� ������ ������ �������������������� ������ ������������������ ���� ���������� ���� ���� �������������������� ������ ���������������� ������ ���� ������������������ ����������������������, ������ ���������������� ������ ���������� ���� ������ ���������� ���� ���������������� ����������������������������������, ���������������������� �� ������������������������ ������ �������������� ������ ������. �� �������������� �������������� ������������������������ �������������� ���������������������� ������ ������ ���� �������� ������������������ �������������������������� ������ ������������ ���� ���������� ������������������������ ���� ���������������� �������������������������� �������������������� ������ ������ ������������������ ������ ������ ������ �������������� ���� ������������ ������ ���� �������� ���� ���������������������� ������������������ ������ ������������������ ���� �������������������� ������������������ ������������������������ ������������������������ ������ �������� ������ ������ ���������������� �������� ������ ������������ �������������������� ������ ������������������, The recent years have witnessed a shift in the expression of fan culture due to the widespread access to the Internet. Fan studies have expanded to accommodate this unprecedented rise in online fan created content, including drawings (fanart) and stories (fanfiction). Academics working in the newly-developed field of online fanfiction studies tend to focus on how both the academia and individual reader can benefit from fanfic writing and reading by cultivating a community generated approach to cultural production, while also practicing their writing skills and using critical analysis when creating, discussing and commenting on fan written texts. The present thesis will explore some of the reasons why the three books of Suzanne Collins���s trilogy, namely The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009) and Mockingjay (2010), have fuelled the creative response of the fanfiction community and have motivated fanfic writers into creating their own versions of the primary sources mentioned. Following a thematic approach, the thesis is divided into two main chapters, with Chapter One focusing on the different narrative techniques used by Collins and how exactly these prompt fanfiction writers to construct their stories based on the universe or characters she has created. Chapter Two includes an analysis of Katniss���s character development throughout the trilogy in relation to sexual awakening and female agency while examining how the romance is reflected, expanded or altered in the furiously typing hands of the fandom. The critical analysis includes short excerpts drawn from all three original novels which are combined with samples of certain responses by the fanfiction community that can shed some light on this literary phenomenon that keeps on generating new content for over a decade after the trilogy���s original release

The following essay explores the connection between pandemic dystopian fiction and a pedagogy of discomfort through a critical reading of The White Plague by Frank Herbert. It is advocated in this essay that a critical reading of the novel can give rise to uncomfortable topics related to living in a pandemic reality, which in turn can be incorporated in an ESL setting to encourage critical inquiry and action. Grounded in a thematic analysis of the novel, it is demonstrated that The White Plague can be used to discuss uncomfortable topics such as fear of biogenetic engineering, fear of others, nationalism, national identity, deglobalisation, violence against women, patriarchy, and traditional gender roles. Contextualised withincontemporary history, tradition, ideology, and recontextualised with the current COVID-19 pandemic, the essay confirms that a critical reading of The White Plague carries the potential to promote a pedagogy of discomfort inside an ESL classroom.

What does late capitalism’s mode of temporality reveal about the logic linked to its mode of production? This article establishes a dialogue between theoretical works concerned with this question and Jeff Noon’s speculative fiction novel Falling out of Cars. By drawing on Marxist criticism in the works of Fredric Jameson and Gilles Deleuzeand Félix Guattari, it argues thatFalling out of Cars develops a catatonic mode of temporality that critically challenges these authors’ diagnosis of schizophrenia as the cultural logic of late capitalism. Noon’s novel offers a dystopian version of the future in which catatonic subjects function as the norm for the system’s optimal operation. The catatonic temporality of the novel emerges as the logic underlying this transformation, namely, as the passive assimilation of the individual to the system’s economic rationale, which no longer needs human agency in order to operate. Falling out of Cars does not only deploy these narrative techniques on a purely aesthetic basis, but explicitly links them to the objective conditions of the world they aim to represent. In this sense, Noon’s novel suggests catatonia as the dominant logic leading to capitalism’s terminal stage in which individuals no longer possess agency to take control of their lives.

The main goal of this paper is to present an analysis based on posthumanism of the following dystopian fiction novels: Ishiguro‟s Never Let Me Go, Huxley‟s Brave New World, and Bradbury‟s Fahrenheit 451. The paper is focused on discussing general notions of „humanity‟, „human nature‟, as well as (post)human rights and how our understanding of them can be altered as a result of specific techno-scientific developments. The paper begins with an introduction to posthumanism as a theoretical field, and it further discusses the three main approaches to posthumanism, as well as its relationship with technology and science fiction. The following chapters are based on analyzing the mentioned works of dystopian fiction. The first one discusses notions of humanity and (post)human rights in Kazuo Ishiguro‟s Never Let Me Go. Then, the work continues on to the analysis of Aldous Huxley‟s Brave New World by commenting on techno-scientific developments and how they lead to the creation of a largely dystopian society that is solely focused on work and self-indulgence, bringing their humanity into question. Lastly, an analysis of Ray Bradbury‟s Fahrenheit 451 is also based on discussing the relationship between „the human‟ and technology, as it comments on the repercussions caused by constant exposure to government-run technology, resulting in violation of various human rights, but also the loss of humanity. The final chapter provides a conclusion as it comments on contemporary developments in technology and how they can be connected to the anxieties portrayed by the authors of the previous century. Cilj ovoga rada je pružiti analizu posthumanizma u sljedećim romanima distopijske fikcije: Ishigurov Nikad me ne ostavljaj, Huxleyjev Vrli novi svijet i Bradburyjev Fahrenheit 451. Rad se temelji na raspravi osnovnih ideja o 'ljudskosti', 'ljudskoj prirodi' te (post)ljudskim pravima te govori o tome kako se njihovo poimanje može promijeniti kao rezultat znanstveno-tehnološkog napretka. Rad započinje uvodom u posthumanizam kao teorijsko polje te zatim predstavlja tri glavna pristupa posthumanizmu, te obrazlaže njegovu povezanost s tehnologijom i znanstvenom fantastikom. Sljedeća poglavlja analiziraju spomenuta distopijska djela. Prvo raspravlja o idejama o ljudskosti i (post)ljudskim pravima u Kazuo Ishigurovom Nikad me ne ostavljaj. Zatim slijedi analiza Aldous Huxleyjeva Vrlog novog svijeta uz opis znanstveno-tehnološkog napretka te njegovog utjecaja na razvoj distopijskog društva koje je potpuno usredotočeno na rad i zadovoljstvo, što dovodi do preispitivanja njihove ljudskosti. Na kraju, analiza Ray Bradburyjeva Fahrenheita 451 također se odnosi na raspravu ljudsko-tehnološkog odnosa tako što komentira posljedice neprestanog izlaganja tehnologiji kojom upravlja vlada, što dovodi do kršenja raznih ljudskih prava, kao i gubitku ljudskosti kod likova. Zaključno poglavlje govori o suvremenom tehnološkom razvoju te ga povezuje s problematikom koja je mučila pisce prošloga stoljeća.

In this paper, I would like to address the way in which the three levels of reality (utopian, dystopian, and retrotopian) in Steven Spielberg’s movie Ready Player One catalyse the plot and allow for a reflection on the role of nostalgia in our contemporaneity. Following Zygmunt Bauman’s definition of retrotopia as a leaning towards the past in search of the ideal society, I argue that the metafictional references scattered throughout the movie represent well the contemporary need to evoke the past and seek refuge in it through the assimilation of pop culture of the 80s and 90s. Moreover, I argue that the movie allows for a critique of the categories of utopia and dystopia, highlighting their intricate relationship and their nuanced meaning, and advocating for a shift of our attention towards the issues of the present., JAm It! (Journal of American Studies in Italy), No 3 (2020): Environmental Hazards and Migrations

Critics have tended to dismiss feminist analyses of Cormac McCarthy's works as misguided, labelling investigations of potential narrative misogyny in his novels as irrelevant. In this article, the author argues that such investigations are, on the contrary, highly relevant in the current climate of mother-blaming. The author specifically explains how McCarthy’s 2006 dystopian novel The Road uses post-feminist fatherhood to valorize the father and vilify the mother, thus participating in a continuing cultural trend of privileging fathers over mothers. The Road invokes traditional cultural expectations of motherhood and fatherhood, presenting the mother as unable and unwilling to care for the boy, in stark contrast to the very competent and able father. Many literary analyses of this highly acclaimed novel have unquestioningly accepted the post-feminist marginalization of the mother, and critics have elaborated on and developed the mother-blaming in the novel in a move that the author terms ‘critical co-writing’. Critical co-writing occurs when critics ally themselves with an author, rather than retaining a critical distance, and represent the author's ideas without problematizing them. In the case of The Road, many critics build on post-feminist cues in the novel, adding their own, unreflected, understandings of motherhood and fatherhood. In so doing, they reinterpret and rewrite the novel into an even more forceful presentation of flawed mothering. In a critical discussion of these readings, the author demonstrates how these critics transform the novel's implicit criticism of the mother character into explicit condemnation. Special issue

Introduction: the article deals with various possibilities of using literary excerpts from dystopian narrative in the classroom of English learners from technical institutes. This approach could fit into the traditional and communicative methodology framework for furthering a more informed and deeper understanding of lexical and grammatical formulas, syntactic relations, discursive particulars and extralinguistic concepts. Science fiction texts with a clear dystopian undertone provide a rich material for language-based analysis and in-class discussions inspired by poignant multimodal creative discourse related to the spheres of engineering, robotics, academic research and daily life. Therefore, it could raise students’ motivation, professional curiosity and fascination with the English language that is now part of the technical university syllabus. Materials and Methods: the author uses the theoretical and practical suggestions put forward by Western teaching ideologists and practicionaries of such literature and language approach as well as attempts to summarize her own experience of working as an English teacher at the technical university. Certain literary excerpts from exemplary science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” (1968) have been chosen for analysis and discussion. Results: the article showcases language uses and discourse messages in the passages of our choice as potential material for developing tasks, activities and discussions that could contribute to expanding students’ linguistic competencies and communicative skills. This could become a way of humanizing technical education and introducing socio-cultural or technological dilemmas. Discussion and Conclusions: the ideas for grammatical or lexical exercises, entertaining tasks or debate topics can be incorporated into the English courses that make an emphasis on general, specific or academic aspects and seek to avoid overloading their syllabus with non-contextualized or condescending English language textual material. These suggestions could be taken into account for preparing regular lessons, reading sessions or home tasks.

The article compares three science-fiction novels written by Polish writers representing three successive generations — Stanisław Lem’s Return from the Stars (1959), Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg’s Robot (1973), and Marek S. Huberath’s Nest of Worlds (1998)—that utilize the time dilation phenomenon as a basis for the plot. In each novel, time dilation serves also as a building block for a higher layer of meaning. In Lem’s—as a grim prediction about the fate of real-world astronautics at its birth; in Snerg’s—as association with his ‘theory of superbeings’; and in Huberath’s—as a part of solipsistic construction of the author’s own multiverse permeated with Christian themes to which the author often refers to in his other texts. This proves not only the unwavering popularity of the motif itself but also its flexibility which allows to adapt it to different needs and aesthetics that the evolution of the genre imposes.

This doctoral thesis examines the ways in which contemporary writers have adopted the critical dystopian mode in order to radically deconstruct the socio-political conditions that preclude equality, inclusion and collective political appearance in twenty-first century Britain. The thesis performs theoretically-informed close readings of contemporary novels from authors J.G. Ballard, Maggie Gee, Sarah Hall and Rupert Thomson in its analysis, and argues that the speculative visions of Kingdom Come (2006), The Flood (2004), The Carhullan Army (2007) and Divided Kingdom (2005) are engaged with a wave of contemporary dystopian writing in which the destructive and divisive forms of consensus that are to be found within Britain’s contemporary socio-political moment are identified and challenged. The thesis proposes that, in their politically-engaged extrapolations, contemporary British writers are engaged with specifically dystopian expressions of dissensus. Reflecting key theoretical and political nuances found in Jacques Rancière’s concept of ‘dissensus’, I argue that the novels illustrate dissensual interventions within the imagined political space of British societies in which inequalities, oppressions and exclusions are endemic – often proceeding to present modest, ‘minor’ utopian arguments for more equal, heterogeneous and democratic possibilities in the process. Contributing new, theoretically-inflected analysis of key speculative fictions from twenty-first century British writers, and locating their critiques within the literary, socio-political and theoretical contexts they are meaningfully engaged with, the thesis ultimately argues that in interrogating and reimagining the socio-political spaces of twenty-first century Britain, contemporary writers of dystopian fiction demonstrate literature working in its most dissensual, political and transformative mode.

A review of Joyce Carol Oates's novel Hazards of Time Travel considering the genre of Young Adult and speculative fiction as well as how the novel relates to the author's own past.

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In 2016, “post-truth” was chosen as the word of the year by the Oxford Dictionaries. This is a concept that has come to be associated with a type of political discourse in which objective facts are less important than factual inaccuracies which appeal to emotion to influence people’s attitudes. Due to this recent increase in post-truth politics, critical thinking becomes an important skill to master. Yet, studies have suggested that students often lack the necessary skills for critical thinking. One way of approaching this problem is through the reading of literature. This essay specifically argues that George Orwell’s 1984 provides teachers with an excellent opportunity to develop critical thinking skills among upper secondary English as a foreign language (EFL) students, with the novel as an excellent platform to also promote student reflection on current post-truth politics. In order to work with 1984 to foster critical thinking, this essay utilizes a literature-based, pedagogical model developed by Bobkina and Stefanova that draws inspiration from elements of reader-response theory and critical literacy pedagogy (CLP). To show how 1984 can be used to discuss current post-truth politics, a thematic analysis was performed where central themes and concepts from the novel, such as doublethink, Newspeak and telescreens, were compared to current trends in post-truth politics. The analysis itself was structured around the following themes: the distortion of truth for political gains, the use of language as an instrument of political power and the use of technology to spread misinformation. Following the analysis, a lesson project based on Bobkina and Stefanova’s four-stage model was constructed, focusing on different pre-, while- and post-reading activities aimed at making the students develop their critical thinking skills as well as their awareness of the three themes mentioned above. While this approach is deemed suitable for working with 1984 to discuss post-truth politics, a suggestion for further research would be to use Bobkina and Stefanova’s model together with more contemporary dystopian novels in order to discuss other topics that are more relatable to young adults, e.g. identity issues and social stratification.

The science fiction genre has always been a hotbed for questions about the existence of life and what it means to be human. Food is necessary to sustain life, but is also a key indicator of culture. One of the things that fascinates us about science fiction is how an imagined future culture might look. Food, like fashion, music, transport or architecture plays a role, usually a functional one, in building the scenes needed for us to understand and relate to the narrative.

Dystopian fiction is a literary and film genre that explores contemporary social and political issues and is, therefore, inspired by the anxieties and worries of the society that produces it. Set in a distant place and time, it is an undoubtedly valuable resource for the field of cultural studies. However, most previous work on dystopian fiction have focused on studying films such as Blade Runner (1982) or The Matrix (1999) that depict bleak, urban and highly technologized futures and fall within the scope of the cyberpunk subgenre, while little research has been devoted to recent popular dystopias such as Ex Machina (2014) or Black Mirror (2011- ) that are set in aesthetically pleasuring and almost utopian places. Drawing from the tradition of dystopian fiction and the evolution of the genre in both literature and film, the present study analyses Spike Jonze’s film Her (2013) in an attempt to identify the dystopian and utopian elements in it and reveal a new turn in the visions of the future of dystopian fiction. The paper concludes by discussing the results of the analysis, which suggest that the film offers a mild social criticism and mingles both utopian and dystopian elements, findings that determine that Her (2013) is a film that belongs to the genre of speculative fiction.

Based on recent research in literary criticism, primarily a preoccupation for the literary response among the readers (students) in the academic milieu, this article attempts to propose different perspectives and discuss various levels of interpretation of dystopian fiction - going beyond the clichés that for instance have lead throughout the years to its confusion with the science fiction genre - reclaiming an increasing need for a specialized bibliography. We contend these literary works entail peculiar ethical considerations and ultimately they require a specific methodology close to a psychonarratological approach, namely empirical.

Geralmente lida como um exemplo de ficção (especulativa) distópica contemporânea, a trilogia MaddAddam, de Margaret Atwood, é também um bom exemplo dos debates complexos envolvendo as tensões das filosofias pós-humana e transumana e daquelas acerca da noção contemporânea de Antropoceno. O presente artigo almeja discutir como os romances pós-apocalípticos de Atwood podem, na verdade, ser entendidos como uma tentativa de minar—e, também, de problematizar—o que pretendem os projetos pós-humanos do capitalismo tecnológico e como pode ser possível (se é que pode) desenvolver um entendimento de um Antropoceno pós-humano através da criação dos Crakers, hominídeos geneticamente desenvolvidos para repovoar o planeta após a pandemia denominada Dilúvio Seco.

Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake (2003) and The Year of the Flood (2009) are the first and second novels in an as-yet-unfinished trilogy. The two works share a complex structure in which scenes from different moments in the future follow one another. A post-apocalyptic narrative line is intertwined with one that depicts events from a nearer future, all of them leading up to an environmental catastrophe of huge proportions. The nearest scenario is one of extreme genetic manipulation, in which the boundaries between species are blatantly crossed. Biopolitics strictly controls the environment and those who inhabit it; identities can be bought, and only some of them grant access to the Compounds – the only safe areas left after open spaces have become radioactive. In the meantime, all kinds of technological and genetic enhancements to human capabilities are being employed, some of them resulting in the creation of para-human populations. An environmental catastrophe follows, and both books feature last-man-on-earth narratives. Whether – or, more appropriately, how – the apocalyptic destruction is linked to an attempt to cross the boundary of the human is the issue this essay addresses. The first section deals with more classical interpretations of Atwood’s fiction as a cautionary tale about current environmental policies, whereas a new hypothesis is made in the second section, a post-humanist reading of Atwood's novels. Philosophical support will be provided by Jacques Derrida’s reflections on the fine line between animals and humans and Cary Wolfe’s theory of posthumanism., Altre Modernità, No 9 (2013): Apocalisse 2012

This essay gives examples of possible ways to inspire young adults to become politically more aware and active using dystopian fiction in the EFL classroom. First, an overview of the dystopian genre and different ways of using it in the EFL classroom to improve critical thinking skills will be given. Subsequently, different scenes from The Hunger Games will be analyzed to show how young adults can be inspired to be more aware of social and environmental justice and to act. Finally, it is discussed why literary material in a classroom must relate to a student’s personal life and why the relevance must be explained to a student to raise their interest. As a conclusion, it is claimed that it cannot be expected that all students care for the world, but showing them why they should and how they could do it is a first step.

There is a number of digital games that depict various utopian or dystopian worlds. In such games the players are thrown into the game world and they need to learn how to live and survive in that world. In case of games depicting dystopian worlds the players must fight to survive, whereas in case of games depicting utopias the players very often learn that the game’s world is not necessarily as utopian as it looks at the first glance. In such games the players arrive into an already existing utopia or dystopia, and they can only react to the world or possibly try to change it—if the game system allows it. Instead of concentrating solely on depictions of utopian and dystopian worlds in digital games, I would like to focus on games that actually give the players an opportunity to create their own utopian or dystopian world. My analysis will focus on a couple of examples of games that provide players with tools to create their own societies, nations or worlds and the way players can use those tools to try to create a utopian or, if they think that it is a good idea, a dystopian world in the game.

The Swedish author Stefan Casta has written several books for children and adults, thematically addressing nature and environment. This paper highlights and discusses ideological and aesthetical aspects in his recent novel, Den grona cirkeln (2011) and its sequel, Under tiden (2012), from an ecocritical perspective. The novels combine environmental commitment with a dystopian story about four young people who survive a climate catastrophe but get lost in a world they no longer recognize and where ordinary logic does not seem to exist. The paper elucidates this process by a comparison with Buell’s (2001) concept of toxic discourse as there are several parallells, such as elements like a lost paradise, inescapable toxic, and the oppression of powerful societal interests, throughout the story. Simultaneously, ambivalence towards culture and civilization is expressed. Nature and culture become intertwined in a way that differs from the conventional dichotomy and this complexity is the supporting structure of the texts. The four teenagers, and even more so the following generation, become symbols of a new future, a pattern recognized from much dystopian as well as children’s fiction, where the weak and oppressed turn out to be the heroes. The optimistic and didactic ambition in this kind of dystopian stories is often aimed at creating an engagement for environmental issues and a sustainable future among young people. By placing the story in an imagined future as well as adding fantastic elements, Stefan Casta creates a kind of ”Verfremdungseffekt” on phenomena we often do not question in our lifestyle. This could be a liberating relativization to the young readers; the social and cultural drives that rule many of our life choices are not essential and can therefore always be reconsidered. Keywords: Ecocriticism, Stefan Casta, dystopian fiction, nature, environment, climate change

The aim of this essay is to examine what happens when Veronica Roths Divergent-trilogy is read with a lutheran theological pre-understanding. Using reader-response theory and lutheran theology written for and in a post-modern context, three lutheran figures of thought are presented as one way of understanding the trilogy. The conclusion is that it is possible to reveal lutheran ideas concerning justification, guilt, forgiveness, mercy and self-sacrificing love in the Divergent-story. Denna uppsats undersöker Veronica Roths Divergent-trilogi ur ett luthersk-teologiskt perspektiv. Metoden som används är en text- och läsarcentrerad metod. Med hjälp av post-modern luthertolkning till största delen hämtad från projektet Luthersk teologi och etik - i ett efterkristet samhälle så byggs tre tankefigurer upp; människan och det onda, människan och det goda samt människan och vägen till frihet. Dessa tankefigurer läggs som ett raster över trilogin. Resultatet av denna process visar att det i berättelsen är möjligt att synliggöra lutherska tankefigurer rörande rättfärdiggörelse, skuld, en självutgivande kärlek, förlåtelse och nåd.

Review of Maddaddam by Margaret Atwood

As Janusz A. Zajdel’s - Polish most visionary social SF writer - novels have rarely been presented to the foreign literary public (except one maybe short story: Particularly Difficult Territory from Tales from the Planet Earth anthology), herein shall be discussed whether his fantastic visions (especially those dealing with the fall of utopian dreams) could be perceived as dystopian signals of forthcoming apocalypse. Along with concise analyses (and brief summaries) of Zajdel’s greatest novels - especially Paradyzja ("Paradisia") or Cylinder Van Troffa ("Van Troff’s Cylinder") - and pre-sumably one short story - Pod kloszem ("A Sheltered Life") - the paper will consider the relation between commonly affirmed vision of apocalypse and its influence on how the intrasystemic equilibrium may be sustained by the only right, logocentric truth. In Paradyzja dystopian society, threatened by a vision of the death in void, fulfils whatever is ordered to follow the totalitarian doctrine of space station orbiting around the planet of Tartarus. Tantamount to beehive, Paradyzja station subordinates quotidian life to the arguable necessities of the collective - only to preserve the state of formida-bility and to legitimize Lord’s of Logos protection over his patrocinium (Jacques Le Goff) from menacing apocalypse. Max Weberesque (from Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftlehre, 1951) gradation of ideal (separation, enhancement, creation) - the very essence of all utopia - reflects also excellently on lunar society in Cylinder Van Troffa that lives in qualms of factual apocalypse which officially has wiped out all life from Earth, making the Moon an only asylum for genetically pure refuges. Analogous con-ditions are lapidary described in a short story Pod kloszem (the title is ambiguous in Polish; it uses an untranslatable pun which links the basic meaning of "pod kloszem", that means "under the [lamp]shade", with the idiomatic meaning, that in English has an equivalent in "wrapping sb. in the cotton wool"), where whole cities are hidden under giant, synthetic spheres, theoretically compelled to provide ceaseless inflow of oxygen for all inhabitants. Henceforth one may claim that all given examples are an epitome of that kind of escapism which foresees the heterotopic (in Foucault’s meaning from essay Of other spaces) inclusion to be the only way to survive the upcoming apocalypse. Simultaneously all mentioned texts are diagnosing one thing: that heterotopic "sphere of idolum" (Mumford 1959), permanent, teleologically determined inclusiveness, is utter-mostly prone to be corrupted, distorted and reverted - only because the dystopian Lord of Logos (my humble alternation of Jacques Derrida’s term) persists in pre-cluding an in-clu-ded individual (protagonist) from gaining metasystemic - and, usually, His very own - knowledge. Eponymous "shape of the things to come" is in Janusz A. Zajdel’s works emerging from the shadow of peril: people in his dystopian realms are abidingly deceived by illusions, loosing evenly an ability to differ false from truth, utopia from dystopia and - paradise from hell. As such it seems vital to present the writer, whose novels may be read not only in accordance with flourishing studies in topography of literature, but also in the unfading light of utopian and social SF studies.

Although eutopian topothesia, i. e. the depiction of an ideal place, remains an epitome of the literary representation of the City and evokes a multitude of topographical metaphors (island, concentric walls, overflowing seas, etc.) along with the specific poetics of transgression—it lacks of naturalness as being entirely “disconnected from the real world” (Standley 1995). In herein paper I shall argue that dystopian reasoning is far more credible and consequently persuading as better immersed in surrounding reality and proving the topographical nature of our cognitive schemata. First and foremost, a dystopian narrative allows us to see it from inside of the “sociostasis” (Lem), which introduces more ambiguity to previously unequivocal dialogue of the eutopian Wiseman and the foreign Outsider. Secondly, regarding the narrative focalisation on the protagonist, over the course of a dystopian narrative one is more apt to affirm individual rather than collective perspective and subsequently can get confused about what is really eutopian and what is actually not—since within the eutopian “sphere of Idolum” (Mumford 1959) there are no means of setting meta-utopian paradigm. These few philosophical premises will be exemplified in the dystopian fiction of Polish social fiction writer, Janusz. A. Zajdel, whose Cylinder van Troffa [The Cylinder of Van Troff] or Limes inferior single out as novels especially devoted to unveiling the founding lie of sociostasis and proving that only few can gain the luxury of distance that provides with a proper axiological background for differing ideal dream from non-ideal nightmare. Krzysztof Maj

Review of Stephen M. Irwin's thriller 'The Broken Ones'.

How could the story of an imaginary society based on sport laws be an allegory of the concentration camp? What made the drawings of this improbable utopia, sketched in some forgotten days of youth, the objets trouvés for the reworking of the trauma of an orphan and the history of the Shoah? Perhaps the best approach to W ou le souvenir d’enfance (1975) by Georges Perec is to consider it a parable of the law. The book faces the various meanings of this concept: law of society, contrainte of writing, rule of memory. The essay intends to outline how these meta-textual correlations provided Perec with a way to surround an absence with words. W focuses on the vain claim of writing personal experience, but also on the allusive relationship that nevertheless brings together the written and the unwritten world. While Perec’s search seems to clash with the irresolvable trauma of his childhood, a bizarre youthhood fantasy, like a mirror, reveals to the reader unexpected glimpses of the past., Come può il racconto di un’immaginaria società basata sulle leggi della competizione sportiva rivelarsi, a distanza di anni, un’allegoria dell’universo concentrazionario? Cosa rende i disegni di questa improbabile utopia, tracciati in chissà quale remoto angolo di giovinezza, gli objets trouvés intorno ai quali l’autore rielabora il trauma della morte dei genitori e la storia della Shoah? Forse il modo migliore per accostarsi al segreto di W ou le souvenir d’enfance (1975) di Georges Perec è quello di considerarlo una parabola della legge. Il libro affronta infatti le numerose declinazioni che può assumere l’idea di norma: legge della società, contrainte della scrittura, regola della memoria. La presente analisi intende delineare come queste corrispondenze metatestuali forniscano a Perec il modo di circuire di parole un’assenza. W riflette sull’impossibile desiderio della scrittura di inquadrare l’esperienza in un ordine stabile, e sul sottile rapporto che, nonostante tutto, continua a legare mondo scritto e mondo non scritto. Mentre la ricerca di Perec si va arenando contro il trauma irrisolvibile dell’infanzia, una bizzarra fantasia giovanile svela, come uno specchio, inattesi riflessi di un passato altrimenti irrecuperabile.

Dystopian fiction is almost always an analysis of contemporary society and trends within it. The novels in this study all deal with how a regime can control its populace. Three of the main means of control are religion, sex and language. Religion can be used as the leading means of control as in The Handmaid’s Tale, or to reinforce the other means, as in Brave New World. Religion can be shaped to serve the ends of the regime, instead of satisfying the individual’s spiritual needs. This is a common feature of dystopian fiction. The natural sex instinct is one of the most powerful human drives and because of that it needs to be controlled by the dystopian regime. The Handmaid’s Tale and Nineteen Eighty-Four controls it, and through it the populace, by suppression. In Nineteen Eighty-Four the pent up energy from the suppressed sex drive is channelled into war hysteria and public rallies against the enemies of the State. Brave New World, controls through sex in the opposite manner. By making sex easily attainable, the World State removes any other meaning than pleasure from the act. If language is dominated, so are the people speaking it. Newspeak in Nineteen Eighty-Four is the epitome of this: the entire language is designed to restrict the range of thought to purely Party ideology. The hypnopaedia in Brave New World and the denial of language for women in The Handmaid’s Tale are other ways to use language as a means of control. Validerat; 20101217 (root)

International audience; Nearly ten years after the success of the films 28 Days Later (Boyle, 2002) and 28 Weeks Later (Fresnadillo, 2007), several recent big-budget television and film works that also fall within the genre of epidemic horror, such as The Walking Dead (TV series, Darabont and Kirkman, 2010-auj.), Contagion (Soderbergh, 2011), or World War Z (Forster, 2013), still flatter the contemporary taste for the staging of panic. Following the definition, faithful to the myth of Pan, of what Jean-Pierre Dupuy calls "the French school", according to which panic would be a particularly irrational and contagious emotion, it does not seem surprising that the cinematographic genre of epidemic horror is so interested in it.However, if certain film genres exist in relation to an emotion that the films that comprise them are supposed to elicit in viewers in a privileged way, then it must be acknowledged that there is one film that is a kind of matrix of epidemic horror films, even though no epidemic occurs in it, and which would tend instead to verify the American school's thesis that "[p]anic is much less irrational and savage than the myth describes it": Panic In The Year Zero (Ray Milland, 1962). Better still, the film allows us to think of ordinary panic and its remedies in two or three forms of primary importance for modern subjectivity.; Près de dix ans après le succès des films 28 days later (28 jours plus tard, Boyle, 2002) et 28 weeks later (28 semaines plus tard, Fresnadillo, 2007), plusieurs œuvres télévisuelles et cinématographiques à gros budget récentes, qui relèvent elles aussi du genre de l’horreur épidémique, comme The Walking Dead (série TV, Darabont et Kirkman, 2010-auj.), Contagion (Soderbergh, 2011) ou World War Z (Forster, 2013) flattent encore le goût contemporain pour la mise en scène de la panique. À suivre la définition, fidèle au mythe de Pan, de ce que Jean-Pierre Dupuy appelle « l’école française », selon laquelle la panique serait une émotion particulièrement irrationnelle et contagieuse, il ne semble pas étonnant que le genre cinématographique de l’horreur épidémique s’y intéresse autant.Cependant, si certains genres cinématographiques existent en relation avec une émotion que les films qui les composent sont censés susciter chez les spectateurs de façon privilégiée, alors il faut reconnaître qu’il est un film qui est une sorte de matrice des films d’horreur épidémique, bien que ne s’y produise aucune épidémie, et qui tendrait plutôt à vérifier la thèse de l’école américaine selon laquelle « [l]a panique est beaucoup moins irrationnelle et sauvage que le mythe la décrit » : Panic In The Year Zero (Panique année zéro, Ray Milland, 1962). Mieux, le film nous permet de penser la panique ordinaire et ses remèdes selon deux ou trois formes de première importance pour la subjectivité moderne.

Väitöstutkimus käsittelee dystopian ja sadun lajiyhdistelmiä kolmessa 2000-luvulla julkaistussa suomalaisessa romaanissa. Aineiston teokset ovat Pirkko Lindbergin Berenikes hår (2000), Laura Gustafssonin Huorasatu (2011) ja Johanna Sinisalon Auringon ydin (2013). Tutkimuksen kohdeteokset kuvaavat aikamme pelkoja ja uhkakuvia, mutta synkkiin ja ahdistaviin kuvauksiin sisältyy satumaisia ja utooppisia kuvauksia onnellisimmista paikoista ja aikakausista. Teosten päähenkilöt kertovat toisilleen satumaisia tarinoita, joissa he kuvaavat omaa yhteiskuntaansa parempia paikkoja. Teoksiin on upotettu satujen uudelleenkirjoituksia tai sadun elementtejä sisältäviä kertomuksia, ja teosten henkilöhahmot muistuttavat satujen ja myyttien hahmoja. Suomalaista aineistoa verrataan dystopioihin ja satuihin, jotka on kirjoitettu Venäjällä, Ruotsissa, Yhdysvalloissa, Isossa-Britanniassa, Kanadassa, Saksassa ja Ranskassa. Tällä tavoin hahmotetaan, millaisia lajimalleja ja intertekstejä teoksilla on ja miten dystopian laji on kulkeutunut Suomen kirjallisuuteen. Dystopian laji on Suomessa suhteellisen nuori. Se yleistyi kirjallisuudessamme vasta 1990- ja 2000-luvuilla, minkä vuoksi kohdeteosten dystopiamallit ovat pääosin ulkomaisesta kirjallisuudesta. Vertaamalla suomalaista aineistoani ulkomaisiin teoksiin voidaan osoittaa piirteitä, jotka ovat ominaisia erityisesti lajin suomalaisille varianteille. Intertekstuaaliset viittaukset suomalais-ugrilaiseen mytologiaan, Kalevalaan sekä pohjoismaisiin satuihin ja muuhun kirjallisuuteen luovat aineiston suomalaisiin teoksiin paikallisväriä, joka erottaa ne muissa maissa kirjoitetuista samoihin lajitraditioihin kuuluvista teoksista. Tutkimuksessa esitetään, että osa dystopian piirteistä toistuu teoksesta toiseen 1900-luvun alusta 2000-luvulle, mutta lajin repertoaariin on tullut uusia piirteitä ja aiheita. Koska dystopiat tyypillisesti kommentoivat kirjoitusaikansa yhteiskuntaa, kunkin aikakauden aiheet vaikuttavat tähän lajiin kuuluviin teoksiin. Tutkimusaineiston suomalaiset teokset kritisoivat aikamme ilmiöitä, kuten sukupuoleen perustuvaa alistamista, ihmisiin ja eläimiin kohdistuvaa väkivaltaa sekä nationalismia. Kohdeteoksissa kuvataan naisten alistamista ja vangitsemista, lisääntymisen rajoittamista ja seksuaaliseen käyttäytymiseen kohdistuvaa moralismia. Väitöskirjassa osoitetaan, kuinka seksuaalisuuden ja sukupuolisuuden teemat toistuvat niin varhaisissa kuin uudemmissakin dystopioissa. Tutkimuksen kohdeteokset viittaavat satutraditioon juonirakenteillaan ja henkilöhahmoillaan. Teoksissa on viittauksia esimerkiksi Charles Perrault’n, Grimmin veljesten ja H. C. Andersenin satuihin, ja niissä myös kirjoitetaan uudelleen satuja ja myyttejä. Aineiston teoksissa on intertekstuaalisia viittauksia myös uudempiin satujen uudelleenkirjoituksiin. Sadun ja dystopian lisäksi tutkimuksessa käsitellään allegorian, satiirin, tieteisfiktion ja eepoksen lajeja. Tutkimuksessa sovelletaan Alastair Fowlerin ja David Fishelovin lajiteorioita, intertekstuaalisuutta ja uudelleenkirjoittamista käsitteleviä teorioita sekä teoreettisia lajikuvauksia. The doctoral thesis examines the combination of dystopia and fairy tale in three contemporary Finnish novels: Berenikes hår (2000) by Pirkko Lindberg, Huorasatu (2011) by Laura Gustafsson, and Auringon ydin (2013) by Johanna Sinisalo. The fairy tale elements bring utopian hope to the totalitarian, racist and suppressing societies depicted in the novels as the characters envision better futures for themselves and for other creatures by telling fairy tales to each other. The study is the first to analyse the ways in which dystopia and fairy tale intersect in contemporary Finnish literature. It also traces how and from where the dystopian genre came into Finnish literature by analysing the intertextuality of the novels. The first canonical dystopias were written in the early 20th century, but the genre only became common in Finnish literature at the turn of the 21st century. In 2000, when Lindberg’s Berenikes hår was published, dystopia was still a relatively unknown genre in Finland. In contrast, when Sinisalo’s Auringon ydin came out in 2013, dystopia was already more widely known and Sinisalo’s novel was marketed as a dystopian novel. All three novels refer to the fairy tale tradition in multiple ways through their plot structures, characters, opening formulas, allusions, and retellings of tales by Charles Perrault, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, and H. C. Andersen. However, the novels are also connected to more contemporary retellings of the tales, which form a complex network of intertexts from different periods. In addition to fairy tale and dystopia, the novels also include features of several other genres such as allegory, satire, science fiction, and epic. The theoretical and methodological framework of the study is based on David Fishelov’s and Alastair Fowler’s genre theories, theories on intertextuality and rewriting, and theoretical depictions of genres. An examination of generic repertoires, prototypical works, and historical as well as local alterations of fairy tale and dystopia reveals how these Finnish novels use prototypical dystopian works as generic models by modulating the character positions, milieus, motifs, and narrative structures of previous works. The three novels address such themes as the suppression and imprisonment of women, limitations of reproduction, violence in the relationships between men and women, and moralist attitudes towards female sexuality and sexual behaviour. These themes are common in canonical dystopias by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Aldous Huxley, and George Orwell, as well as more recent feminist dystopias. They are also crucial in the fairy tale tradition even though they have been edited out from canonical variants of the tales written by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. The primary texts are compared with works written both in Finland and in other countries, for example in Sweden, Russia, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Germany. By comparing the Finnish novels to works written in other time periods and in other countries, I am able to identify the elements particular to Finnish literature. One such characteristic feature is the use of Finnish, Finno-Ugric, Nordic, and Northern mythologies and folklore. The dystopias contrasted to the primary works include We (1920) by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley, Swastika Night (1937) by Katherine Burdekin, Kallocain (1940) by Karin Boye, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell, Anthem (1938) by Ayn Rand, Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood, and Kys’ (2001) by Tatyana Tolstaya, and Staden utan kvinnor (2011) by Madeleine Hessérus. These works and theoretical descriptions of the dystopian genre allow me to build a framework of the generic repertoire of dystopian fiction with a focus on dystopian literature written to an adult readership.