The History of Dystopian Literature

The term “utopia” originated in the first 1500 years as an idea created by Lord Thomas More and refers to a society where perfection and stability have been achieved. In history, though, many authors have taken that idea, and used its exact opposite as a literary device to inspire stories. Take “anti-utopias” or “dystopias” place in societies where people live constantly fear and control governing their bodies, they live empty lives and have little hope of making any kind of change. I will now take a short walk through dystopias in the history of English literature.

While dystopian literature did not really come into the mainstream until the 20^th century, the 19^th also produced a few important stories for the emergence of the genre. One of the most important novels written in 1863 by Jules Verne was entitled “Paris in the Twentieth Century”. It tells the story of a young man who graduates with a degree in literature; although all the arts are to be governed in Paris. Without money, he finds himself using what he learned at school to support himself and has no place to live. He is numb to death at the end of the novel and walking the streets of Paris. There are wonderful mechanics of all kinds, but nothing to warm him up, and he becomes more and more delirious. He eventually dies after thinking about how his society’s lack of skills has led to the deaths of many innocent people. This dystopian epic paints a picture of a world without art and warns that it will become cold and mechanized.

In 1895, H.G. Wells wrote “The Time Machine”. It tells the story of a 19th century inventor who discovers the secrets of travel. While her journeys travels in different times take place in the future and are some surprises, it finally ends. in a future where humanity faces horrible creatures called the Morlocks. There is a superior class of men in this same future, but they may be dull and uneducated for years without war or challenge. The inferior Morlocks, on the other hand, have become violent and ferocious beasts that try to kill everything they see. The story warns of the dangers of human systems throughout the ages and that man’s abilities are both angelic and infernal. The story, like the society it holds, begins in harmony and ends in disaster.

One of the more recent examples of a dystopian epic in the 20th century was Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel A Golden Clock. The novel takes place in an alternate England where gangs roam the streets and kidnapping and murder are common. The main character is the leader of one of the gangs that terrorizes England’s innocence and cares nothing for feelings or values. By the end of the novel, the hero is captured and brought to a secret government facility, where he is brainwashed into thinking negatively. The main character quickly finds himself without the ability to defend himself, or even put it in a negative light, because he is quickly absorbed by the created world. This is a great example of a dystopian epic that Burgess can immerse the reader in a new world, a new language and character that helped create a society of terror. From this same world he finally suffered and the cycle of corrupt society is revealed.

Dystopias have existed for as long as literature has been written, yet people before the 1800s were less likely to write stories about . infernal times because of the fear of revenge from the princes; For example, in Shakespeare’s era, any slight against the king, which appeared in the play, could lead to the execution of the entire population. For as long as man has dreamed of paradise, they have also feared fiction. Many ideas in the Bible may seem dystopian, but they are allowed to survive because of the overall positive message of the book. A story that shows the negative aspects of society as a whole will never see figures.