Editing Utopian and dystopian fiction (section)

==History of dystopian fiction==
The history of dystopian literature can be traced back to the reaction to the [[French Revolution]] of 1789 and the prospect that mob rule would produce [[dictatorship]].  Until the late 20th century, it was usually anti-collectivist. Dystopian fiction emerged as a response to the utopian. Its early history is traced in Gregory Claeys' ''Dystopia: A Natural History'' (Oxford University Press, 2017).

The beginning of technological dystopian fiction can be traced back to [[E. M. Forster]]'s "[[The Machine Stops]]" (1909).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zimmermann |first1=Ana Cristina |last2=Morgan |first2=W. John |date=2019-03-01 |title=E. M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops': humans, technology and dialogue |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-017-0698-3 |journal=AI & Society |language=en |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=37–45 |doi=10.1007/s00146-017-0698-3 |s2cid=25560513 |issn=1435-5655}}</ref><ref>Caporaletti, Silvana. "Science as Nightmare: ''The Machine Stops'' by E. M. Forster." ''Utopian studies'' 8.2 (1997): 32-47.</ref> M Keith Booker states that "The Machine Stops," ''[[We (novel)|We]]'' and ''[[Brave New World]]'' are "the great defining texts of the genre of dystopian fiction, both in [the] vividness of their engagement with real-world social and political issues and in the scope of their critique of the societies on which they focus."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Booker|first1=M Keith|title=The Dystopian Impulse in Modern Literature: Fiction as Social Criticism|date=1994|publisher=Greenwood Press}}</ref>

Another important figure in dystopian literature is [[H. G. Wells]], whose work ''[[The Time Machine]]'' (1895) is also widely seen as a prototype of dystopian literature.<ref name="Sargent" /><ref name=":1" /> Wells' work draws on the social structure of the 19th century, providing a critique of the British class structure at the time.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Marcus|first=Laura|title=The Time Machine|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Time-Machine|access-date=11 December 2021|website=Britannica}}</ref> Post [[World War II]], even more dystopian fiction was produced. These works of fiction were interwoven with political commentary: the end of World War II brought about fears of an impending [[Third World War]] and a consequent apocalypse.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

Modern dystopian fiction draws not only on topics such as totalitarian governments and anarchism, but also pollution, global warming, climate change, health, the economy and technology. Modern dystopian themes are common in the young adult (YA) genre of literature.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Young|first=Moira|date=2011-10-22|title=Why is dystopia so appealing to young adults?|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/23/dystopian-fiction|access-date=2020-06-03|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|jstor=43281204|title=Engaging "Apolitical" Adolescents: Analyzing the Popularity and Educational Potential of Dystopian Literature Post-9/11|last1=Ames|first1=Melissa|journal=The High School Journal|volume=97|issue=1|pages=3–20|year=2013|doi=10.1353/hsj.2013.0023|s2cid=145131295|url=https://thekeep.eiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=eng_fac}}</ref>

===Combinations===
Many works combine elements of both utopias and dystopias. Typically, an observer from our world will journey to another place or time and see one society the author considers ideal and another representing the worst possible outcome. Usually, the point is that our choices may lead to a better or worse potential future world. [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]'s ''[[Always Coming Home]]'' fulfills this model, as does [[Marge Piercy]]'s ''[[Woman on the Edge of Time]]''. In [[Starhawk]]'s ''[[The Fifth Sacred Thing]]'' there is no time-travelling observer. However, her ideal society is invaded by a neighbouring power embodying evil repression. In [[Aldous Huxley]]'s ''[[Island (Huxley novel)|Island]]'', in many ways a counterpoint to his better-known ''[[Brave New World]]'', the fusion of the best parts of [[Buddhist philosophy]] and Western technology is threatened by the "invasion" of oil companies. As another example, in the "Unwanteds" series by Lisa McMann, a paradox occurs where the outcasts from a complete dystopia are treated to absolute utopia. They believe that those who were privileged in said dystopia were the unlucky ones.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

In another literary model, the imagined society journeys between elements of utopia and dystopia over the course of the novel or film. ''[[The Giver]]'' by [[Lois Lowry]] begins in a seemingly perfect society without pain, conflict, or inequality. The world is described as a utopia. However, as the book progresses, the dark aspects of this world emerge: strict control over individuals' lives, emotional suppression, lack of personal choice and erasure of memories and agency. These reveal the society's dystopian core, where stability is maintained through dehumanization and the denial of fundamental human freedoms. As such, ''[[The Giver]]'' is ultimately considered a dystopian novel rather than a utopian one.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lone |first=Ahmad Satrap |date=2020-03-12 |title=Dystopia and Dehumanization: A Critical Analysis of Louis Lowry's The Giver |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383498352 |journal=Research Gate |volume=1 |pages=37–43 }}</ref> 

[[Jonathan Swift]]'s ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'' is also sometimes linked with both utopian and dystopian literatures, because it shares the general preoccupation with ideas of good and bad societies. Of the countries [[Lemuel Gulliver]] visits, [[Brobdingnag]] and Country of the [[Houyhnhnms]] approach a utopia; the others have significant dystopian aspects.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Houston|first=Chlöe|date=2007|title=Utopia, Dystopia or Anti-utopia? Gulliver's Travels and the Utopian Mode of Discourse|journal=Utopian Studies|volume=18|issue=3|pages=425–442|doi=10.5325/utopianstudies.18.3.0425 |jstor=20719885|s2cid=190000042 |issn=1045-991X|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Ecotopian fiction===
{{See also|Climate fiction}}
{{See also|Solarpunk}}
In ecotopian fiction, the author posits either a utopian or dystopian world revolving around environmental conservation or destruction. Danny Bloom coined the term "cli-fi" in 2006,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Glass |first=Rodge |date=May 31, 2013 |title=Global warning: the rise of 'cli-fi' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/31/global-warning-rise-cli-fi |access-date=March 20, 2025 |website=The Guardian}}</ref> with a Twitter boost from [[Margaret Atwood]] in 2011, to cover [[Climate fiction|climate change-related fiction]],<ref>[https://twitter.com/MargaretAtwood/status/194460287187959808 "Margaret Atwood - Twitter]</ref> but the theme has existed for decades. Novels dealing with [[Human overpopulation|overpopulation]], such as [[Harry Harrison (writer)|Harry Harrison]]'s ''[[Make Room! Make Room!]]'' (made into movie ''[[Soylent Green]]''), were popular in the 1970s, reflecting the widespread concern with the effects of overpopulation on the environment. The novel ''Nature's End'' by [[Whitley Strieber]] and [[James Kunetka]] (1986) posits a future in which overpopulation, pollution, climate change, and resulting superstorms, have led to a popular mass-suicide political movement. Some other examples of ecological dystopias are depictions of Earth in the films ''[[Wall-E]]'' and [[Avatar (2009 film)|''Avatar'']].{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

While eco-dystopias are more common, a small number of works depicting what might be called eco-utopia, or eco-utopian trends, have also been influential. These include [[Ernest Callenbach]]'s ''[[Ecotopia (novel)|Ecotopia]]'', an important 20th century example of this genre. Another are [[Kim Stanley Robinson]]'s works. He has written several books dealing with environmental themes, including the [[Mars trilogy]]. Most notably, however, his ''[[Three Californias Trilogy]]'' contrasted an eco-dystopia with an eco-utopia and a sort of middling-future. Robinson has also edited an anthology of short ecotopian fiction, called ''[[Future Primitive: The New Ecotopias]]''. Another impactful piece of Robinson's is ''[[New York 2140]]'' which focuses on the aftermath of society after a major flooding event, and can be seen through both a utopian and dystopian lens.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

There are a few dystopias that have an "anti-ecological" theme.  These are often characterized by a government that is overprotective of nature or a society that has lost most modern technology and struggles for survival. A fine example of this is the novel ''[[Riddley Walker]]''.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

===Feminist utopias===
{{See also|Utopia#Feminism}}
Another subgenre is ''feminist utopias'' and the overlapping category of [[feminist science fiction]]. According to the author [[Sally Miller Gearhart]], "A feminist utopian novel is one which ''a.'' contrasts the present with an envisioned idealized society (separated from the present by time or space), ''b.'' offers a comprehensive critique of present values/conditions, ''c.'' sees men or [[Patriarchy|male institutions]] as a major cause of present social ills, ''d.'' presents women as not only at least the equals of men but also as [[Reproductive rights|the sole arbiters of their reproductive functions]]."<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/womeninsearchofu0000unse/page/296|title=Women in Search of Utopia: Mavericks and Mythmakers|last=Gearhart|first=Sally Miller|publisher=Shoken Books|year=1984|isbn=0805239006|editor-last=Baruch|editor-first=Elaine Hoffman|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womeninsearchofu0000unse/page/296 296]|chapter=Future Visions: Today's Politics: Feminist Utopias in Review|editor-last2=Rohrlich|editor-first2=Ruby}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/feminist-utopia-dystopia-3529060|title=A Look at Feminist Utopia and Dystopia Literature|last=Napikoski|first=Linda|website=ThoughtCo|access-date=2019-01-16}}</ref>

Utopias have explored the ramification of gender being either a societal construct or a hard-wired imperative.<ref name=WSEncyc1442>{{cite book|title=Women's studies encyclopedia|last=Tierney|first=Helen|year=1999|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|page=[https://archive.org/details/womensstudiesenc0001unse/page/1442 1442]|isbn=978-0-313-31073-7|url=https://archive.org/details/womensstudiesenc0001unse/page/1442}}</ref> In [[Mary Gentle]]'s ''[[Golden Witchbreed]]'', gender is not chosen until maturity, and gender has no bearing on social roles. In contrast, [[Doris Lessing]]'s ''[[The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five]]'' (1980) suggests that men's and women's values are inherent to the sexes and cannot be changed, making a compromise between them essential. In ''My Own Utopia'' (1961) by [[Elisabeth Mann Borgese]], gender exists but is dependent upon age rather than sex — genderless children mature into women, some of whom eventually become men.<ref name=WSEncyc1442/> [[Marge Piercy]]'s novel ''[[Woman on the Edge of Time]]'' keeps human biology, but removes pregnancy and childbirth from the gender equation by resorting to [[assisted reproductive technology]] while allowing both women and men the nurturing experience of [[breastfeeding]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Piercy |first=Marge |title=Woman on the Edge of Time |date=May 1976 |publisher=Fawcett Crest }}</ref>

Utopic [[single-gender world]]s or single-sex societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender and gender-differences.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Attebery |first=Brian |title=Decoding gender in science fiction |date=2002 |isbn=978-1-317-97147-4 |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |oclc=868068199}}</ref> One solution to [[sociology of gender|gender oppression]] or [[social issue]]s in feminist utopian fiction is to remove men, either showing isolated all-female societies as in [[Charlotte Perkins Gilman]]'s ''[[Herland (novel)|Herland]]'', or societies where men have died out or been replaced, as in [[Joanna Russ]]'s ''A Few Things I Know About Whileaway'', where "the poisonous binary gender" has died off.  In speculative fiction, female-only worlds have been imagined to come about by the action of disease that wipes out men, along with the development of a technological or mystical method that allows female [[parthenogenesis|parthenogenetic reproduction]]. The resulting society is often shown to be utopian by feminist writers. Many influential feminist utopias of this sort were written in the 1970s;<ref name=":2" /><ref name=erotic1189>[[Gaétan Brulotte]] & John Phillips, ''Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature'', "Science Fiction and Fantasy", p.1189, CRC Press, 2006, {{ISBN|1-57958-441-1}}</ref><ref name =Utop101/> the most often studied examples include Joanna Russ's ''[[The Female Man]] and'' [[Suzy McKee Charnas]]'s ''[[The Holdfast Chronicles]]''.<ref name =Utop101>Martha A. Bartter, ''The Utopian Fantastic'', "Momutes", [[Robin Anne Reid]], p. Het  101 {{ISBN|0-313-31635-X}}</ref> Such worlds have been portrayed most often by lesbian or feminist authors; their use of female-only worlds allows the exploration of female independence and freedom from [[patriarchy]]. The societies may not necessarily be lesbian, or sexual at all — ''Herland'' (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a famous early example of a sexless society.<ref name=erotic1189/> Charlene Ball writes in ''Women's Studies Encyclopedia'' that use of speculative fiction to explore gender roles has been more common in the United States than in Europe and elsewhere.<ref name=WSEncyc1442/>

Utopias imagined by male authors have generally included equality between sexes rather than separation.<ref name=Utop102>Martha A. Bartter, ''The Utopian Fantastic'', "Momutes", Robin Anne Reid, p. 102 {{ISBN?}}</ref>