Dystopian Novel as a Literary Phenomenon in XX Century

Abstract

           "Dystopia", an opposing term to "Utopia," depicts negative tendencies of authoritarian governments and modern technological world. The origin of dystopia is closely related to the events and radical changes taking place in XX century. The first and second world wars, creation of the Soviet Union and eventually, other totalitarian regimes, atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ecological crisis, violence, genocide, massive deportations of people in Central and East Europe, devastated economics of Europe and the beginning of The Cold War became a fruitful basis for "flourishing" dystopian literature. Anti-Utopian Novel is a literary predecessor to Dystopian Novel, elements of which can be found in Jonathan Swift's, Jules Verne's, Jack London's and Herbert George Wells' novels. While Yevgeny Zamyatin, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell and Ray Bradbury created classic models of Dystopian Novel.