University/Organization
English Literature & Language Department
St. Mary’s University
San Antonio, Texas
Title
Dystopian and Utopian Worlds from a Postmodern Eye
Synopsis:
Postmodern writers tend to give a dystopian image only when a greater power takes control. Conversely, to create a utopian world, writers are more likely to imagine a world free from the rules of the real world. In other words, this would be a world where there is no power and where authority figures are always absent. This paper shows the relationship between authority and dystopian worlds by analyzing the methods and the postmodern characteristics that writers used to create dystopian and utopian worlds in three postmodern works, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four as well as Julio Cortázar’s The Southern Thruway and The Other Heaven according to Linda Hutcheon in her book A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction.