The Awakening of the Dystopian Hero: On the Ambiguity in the Utopian Form
The Awakening of the Dystopian Hero: On the Ambiguity in the Utopian Form

Summary/Abstract: My article compares the narrative attributes of classic early modern literary utopias (by More, Bacon and Campanella) to the shape they take in well-known 20th century literary dystopias (by Orwell, Huxley and Zamyatin). On a formal level, I conclude that only a minor difference separates the two: the awakening of a critical/narrative subject completely reconfigures a formerly static and utopian space of collective happiness into a narrative, historical, dystopian space of individual struggle.

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