Dystopia: A Natural History

by Gregory Claeys

A Natural History is the first monograph devoted to the concept of dystopia. Taking the term to encompass both a literary tradition of satirical works, mostly on totalitarianism, as well as real despotisms and societies in a state of disastrous collapse, this volume redefines the central concepts and the chronology of the genre and offers a paradigm-shifting understanding of the subject.

Part One assesses the theory and prehistory of 'dystopia'. By contrast to utopia, conceived as promoting an ideal of friendship defined as "enhanced sociability"', dystopia is defined by estrangement, fear, and the proliferation of 'enemy' categories. A "natural history" of dystopia thus concentrates upon the centrality of the passion or emotion of fear and hatred in modern despotisms. The work of Le Bon, Freud, and others is used to show how dystopian groups use such emotions. Utopia and dystopia are portrayed not as opposites, but as extremes on a spectrum of sociability, defined by a heightened form of group identity. The prehistory of the process whereby "enemies" are demonised is explored from early conceptions of monstrosity through Christian conceptions of the devil and witchcraft, and the persecution of heresy.

Part Two surveys the major dystopian moments in twentieth century despotisms, focussing in particular upon Nazi Germany, Stalinism, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and Cambodia under Pol Pot. The concentration here is upon the political religion hypothesis as a key explanation for the chief excesses of communism in particular.

Part Three examines literary dystopias. It commences well before the usual starting-point in the secondary literature, in anti-Jacobin writings of the 1790s. Two chapters address the main twentieth-century texts usually studied as representative of the genre, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four . The remainder of the section examines the evolution of the genre in the second half of the twentieth century down to the present.

Genres: History, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Literature, Dystopia, Politics

570 pages, Hardcover

First published November 24, 2016

About the author

Gregory Claeys was born in France and educated in Canada and the United Kingdom. He has taught in Germany and the United States and is now Professor of the History of Political Thought at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Reviews

[Ryan Denson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread this over the course of the last month or so. It still holds up well as a riveting work of literary history, though I do now wonder about some the historical materials, and if that section was written with the literary dystopias in mind too much, perhaps slightly distorting the overall picture. It would be interesting to see how a historian of totalitarian regimes would view that section.

This lengthy study is an in-depth examination of the dystopian literary genre and the historical changes of its underlying themes (hence, the subtitle: ‘A Natural History’). Claeys focuses primarily on Anglophone literature and European history. It impressively looks at over 200 literary examples of dystopia and is divided up into three parts.

Part one serves as both an introduction to the dystopian genre and an overview of theoretical works on group psychology and sociology, primarily Le Bon’s crowd theory. Claeys understands that a recurring theme of dystopia is collectivism and groupthink, as well as fear and paranoia of the ‘Other’. Therefore, this examination of the relevant research is immensely helpful for understanding why the genre is so appealing (and terrifying) to readers. Sociological division between ‘us’ and ‘them’ prove to be a powerful force in the rise of dystopian worlds. Likewise, the powerful desire of wanting to ‘fit in’ motivate many of our actions and beliefs and can become dangerous in extreme instances of cult-like mentalities. It is also crucial to remember the dystopia is most frequently the flip-side of utopia. Because dystopia for one person is often utopia for another, the two genres cannot be so neatly separated in terms of their forms and themes. The latter half of this part explores some of the early hints of dystopian thought. Ancient apocalyptic writings give the first traces of the genre, albeit only superficially, by depicting a world that has been turned upside down. Ideas of monstrosity in the ancient and medieval worlds also have similar hints of the fear and paranoia evident in dystopias.

For the second part, Claeys details historical instances of totalitarian regimes, since those exemplify many characteristics of prominent dystopias (chiefly, Orwell’s 1984). While groups like the Inquisition and the Jacobin government of the French Revolution are taken as precursors, Claeys centers this part on the totalitarian governments of the 20th century, primarily the Nazi, Stalinist, and Khmer Rouge regimes. The worst abuses of human rights are detailed here and readers of dystopian literature will immediately recognize the parallels. This includes: extreme collectivism and fanaticism, messianic ideologies, deliberate manipulation of the truth, propaganda tactics, dehumanizing rhetoric, and extreme violence. It is without a doubt that these real events have influenced the dystopian works of the 20th century, but this only shows the fundamental power of the genre.

The final part, which comprises the latter half of the book, turns more fully to the literary instances of dystopia. Modern dystopia has its origins primarily in satirical works that are meant to highlight the faults of a certain movement or ideology. They act as ‘what if’ scenarios presenting a story of society gone wrong due to certain ideas. This begins initially with anti-Jacobin literature during the French Revolution and continues strongly to the present. For instance, Huxley’s Brave New World essentially parodies the use of eugenics gone horribly wrong, while Orwell’s 1984 depicts totalitarian collectivism at its extreme. Of course, the underlying themes and ‘lessons to be learned’ change depending on the historical context and the author’s views. Claeys does well with summarizing a multitude of dystopias and their similarities up to about the 1930s. This is followed by a pair of phenomenal chapters on Huxley and Orwell. As the two most prominent dystopian authors, this detailed analysis of their writings and beliefs is crucial for exploring the genre. Lastly, there are more summaries of literary dystopias from the 1950s to the present day. Here, Claeys highlights many themes that will be familiar to readers today. Authors began to shift away from the intense focus on totalitarianism and towards a broader range of dystopian topics, such as climate change, overpopulation, mechanization, artificial intelligence, and wealth inequality. Feminist works, most famously Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, begin to emerge. More recent dystopian works tend to have a humanist approach. These still generally have collectivism as a theme but, the power structures undergo a clear shift as well. While many still use tyrannical superstates, there is now often the use of evil corporation(s) in their place to act as the primary cause for misery. Claire North's 84k would be a superb recent example of this.

This work might take a while to read and certainly can become tiring as one seems to read the same themes and motifs over and over. Nevertheless, it is well worth the read for anyone interested in the genre or literary history. Not only are dystopian themes (unfortunately) so evident in much of current politics, but it has also experienced an explosive growth in popularity for fictional works. Even outside of books/movies/TV shows that are classified as dystopias, the themes are being used constantly in other works. To give some recent examples, there is the overpopulated and corrupt world that frames Ready Player One and the tone of the Empire in Rogue One is obviously a totalitarian one. Overall, this book is magnificent, and the reader will certainly learn much from it. At the very least, you’ll find plenty of obscure dystopian works to add to your reading list!

[Sami Eerola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book about the history and themes of dystopian literature. But this book is not just about a history of a literary genre, but a history of totalitarian and oppressive societies and ideologies that inspired dystopian literature. So you get two books in one price!

This book is incredible detailed and well written, but the amount of details is too much. The writer wants to explore all aspects of a topic to its exhaustion. Making sometimes feel like the writer is hammering the same points millions of times in different waves. I felt like yelling "i get, i get it, no need to explain further!"

Despise the overkill in explanation and details, this is a great book, almost a work of art in itself.

[Angel Walker-Werth · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 Though Claeys is definitely a historian and not a literary analyst, this book contains a wealth of information on the inspirations for dystopian fiction. He looks first at potential psychological and sociological roots, then at history, before tracing the dominance of various themes in dystopian fiction from the 19th century through the 2010s, using a truly dizzying number of examples. The style is not too academic, though it's occasionally more technical than necessary. He makes some interesting suggestions and offers some helpful frameworks, though occasionally also makes factual errors about the books discussed, which is the reason I subtracted half a star. Still, I learned a lot and found several sections thought-provoking

[Ghislain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ouvrage autant passionnant que glaçant. L’analyse est solide, les références très nombreuses (et précieuses). Seule la dernière partie traitant des dystopies dans la littérature m’a semblé plus en retrait. Alors même que j’en attendais beaucoup (trop certainement). Lecture que je recommande particulièrement, d’autant plus dans le contexte international actuel.

[Mills College Library]

321.07 C583 2017