Accidental Dystopias: Apathy and Happenstance in Critical Dystopian Literature

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dc.contributor.advisorBanerjee, Suparno
dc.contributor.authorSims, C. Austin
dc.contributor.committeeMemberSmith, Victoria L.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberTally, Robert T.
dc.date.accessioned2012-11-30T20:17:36Z
dc.date.available2012-11-30T20:17:36Z
dc.date.issued2012-11
dc.description.abstractIt is often the case that dystopian narratives are born out of a reaction against social, national, technological, or environmental trends as observed by the author of the text. In these cases, the dystopia depicted is frequently a warning against the direction towards which the author perceives his/her world to be headed. This is not the case with all dystopia, however, as more recent “critical dystopias,” as described by Tom Moylan in Scraps of the Untainted Sky, seem to take a more Utopian stance in their creation. Rather than depicting the ends to which we are headed, they posit a “critical utopia,” – one which presents a utopia that is not quite perfect and thus simultaneously acts as a criticism of its own genre – where the utopian tendency becomes the uncontrollable force that leads to dystopia (Sargent 9). It is from these types of dystopias that I take the term accidental dystopia, or those worlds which arise from seemingly altruistic, yet misguided, attempts to reshape the world towards the end of an egalitarian, utopic Eden.
dc.description.departmentEnglish
dc.formatText
dc.format.extent127 pages
dc.format.medium1 file (.pdf)
dc.identifier.citationSims, C. A. (2012). <i>Accidental dystopias: Apathy and happenstance in critical dystopian literature</i> (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, Texas.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10877/4389
dc.language.isoen
dc.subjectUtopia
dc.subjectDystopia
dc.subjectAtwood
dc.subjectLe Guin
dc.subjectButler
dc.subjectCritical Dystopia
dc.subjectAccidental
dc.subjectAccident
dc.subject.lcshDystopias in literature--History and criticismen_US
dc.subject.lcshUtopias in literatureen_US
dc.subject.lcshScience fiction, English----History and criticismen_US
dc.subject.lcshScience fiction, American--History and criticismen_US
dc.titleAccidental Dystopias: Apathy and Happenstance in Critical Dystopian Literature
dc.typeThesis
thesis.degree.departmentEnglish
thesis.degree.disciplineLiterature
thesis.degree.grantorTexas State University-San Marcosen_US
thesis.degree.levelMastersen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen_US
txstate.departmentEnglish

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