1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910299801403321

Autore

Horan Thomas

Titolo

Desire and Empathy in Twentieth-Century Dystopian Fiction / / by Thomas Horan

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2018

ISBN

3-319-70675-6

Edizione

[1st ed. 2018.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource

Collana

Palgrave Studies in Utopianism

Disciplina

809.304

Soggetti

Literature—History and criticism

History, Modern

Civilization—History

Intellectual life—History

Comparative literature

Literary History

Modern History

Cultural History

Intellectual Studies

Comparative Literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction -- 2. The Sexualized Proletariat in Jack London’s The Iron Heel -- 3. Redemptive Atavism in Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We -- 4. The Sexual Life of the Savage in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World -- 5. Katherine Burdekin’s Swastika Night, a Gay Romance -- 6. Distortions of Queer Desire in Ayn Rand’s Anthem -- 7. Desire and Empathy in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four -- 8. Ludic Perversions and Enduring Communities in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale -- 9. Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

This book assesses key works of twentieth-century dystopian fiction, including Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, to demonstrate that the major authors of this genre locate empathy and morality in eroticism. Taken together, these books delineate a subset of



politically conscious speculative literature, which can be understood collectively as projected political fiction. While Thomas Horan addresses problematic aspects of this subgenre, particularly sexist and racist stereotypes, he also highlights how some of these texts locate social responsibility in queer and other non-heteronormative sexual relationships, anticipating the ideas of various cultural theorists. In these novels, even when the illicit relationship itself is truncated, sexual desire fosters hope and community.