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In utopias - the inhabitants share most values and consent to whatever degree of social control they experience. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of utopias are portrayed as free and they have transcended contemporary problems in society such as poverty, sexism, war...
In dystopias - an agency or authority (often the government) is frequently shown to be in total control--the consent of citizens is irrelevant. Chaos and total social breakdown with no form of social control or human security is another form of dystopia.
During the Victorian period and the early twentieth century, writers were often optimistic about our opportunities for amelioration and social improvement--especially through education and social reform. Some authors had social concerns, such as Hugh Pedley's belief that Canada would become a utopia should the Protestant Churches achieve unity. Stephen Leacock could not resist poking fun at those optimists who foresaw the possibility of organizing heaven on earth.
More recent Canadian fiction envisions a world that is either completely controlled--or is completely out of control. Matt Cohen's The Colors of War portrays a post-war dystopia. So does Hugh MacLennan's Voices in Time. William Gibson's cyberpunk world is one where multinational corporations have wrested power from national governments--life becomes a matter of individual survival where the greatest form of wealth is data and software.
Bradbury, Ray
The title is drawn from the temperature at which paper catches fire and the novel is set in a dystopia where all books are banned. The protagonist is a fireman whose primary duty is to burn books and punish book readers and owners. Eventually he rebels, joins an underground of book lovers and surrenders to his own literary desires.
Cohen, Matt
In this post-nuclear dystopia, Canada and the United States are in a state of civil disorder. Food and fuel shortages, corrupt governments, armed forces in the streets and outbreaks of violence are just some of the colours of war that form the backdrop for one man's physical and spiritual journey to Salem, Ontario. (The second in the quartet of Salem novels.)
Gibson, William
In William Gibson's vision of a hip, high-tech future, software cowboys and technopunks are in control and a glitzy computer consciousness is the norm.
Holden, Hélène
What happens to a civilization after a major catastrophe when all accepted standards are questioned? How does one act in a society when all the rules have been broken? Just what happens After the Fact?
Huxley, Aldous
Written in the 1930s, this grim view of a plastic world, in which science conditions the people to passivity, is a warning against false optimism and the dangers inherent in scientific progress. A seminal book in the genre, it has been the foundation for many other glimpses into utopian and dystopian futures.
Leacock, Stephen
This collection of thoughts on the way of the future mixes laughter and satire with a more sober philosophical look at the possibilities of the new age in a mock Utopia.
More, Thomas
More's two-volume fantasy is part analysis of social conditions in early sixteenth century England and part fantasy, describing a country run according to the ideals of English humanists, from which crime, poverty, injustice and other social evils have been eliminated. The name, from the Greek meaning "nowhere", is now applied to all idealized societies.
Pedley, Hugh
Looking forward to a day when church union becomes a reality, author Hugh Pedley foresees, if not a utopia, then, at least "a Canada made better because a little more of heaven has entered into its life".
Plato
Presented as a dialogue between Socrates and others, this description of an ideal state divides the citizenry into three classes: guardians, soldiers and workers. It attempts to define justice, find the best form of rule and extols the virtues of temperance and restraint in a just and balanced state where everyone knows his place.
Stewart, Sean
In a world where cities are dying and vigilante groups are killing "sinners", freelance hunters are encouraged to capture criminals whose executions are then televised. But one of these freelancers can see and feel the pain of others and sets out to change an evil system.
Bibliography
Fahrenheit 451
New York: Ballantine Books, 1953.
The Colours of War
New York: Methuen, 1977.
The Colours of War. Matt Cohen. New York: Methuen, 1977. Courtesy of Methuen & Co. and Methuen Canada.
Count Zero
New York: Arbor House, 1986.
After the Fact
Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1986.
Brave New World
Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1955.
Permission granted by Penguin Books Ltd.
Afternoons in Utopia: Tales of the New Time
New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1932.
Utopia: Containing an Impartial History
London: D.I. Eaton, 1795.
Looking Forward: The Strange Experience of the Rev. Fergus McCheyne
Toronto: William Briggs, 1913.
The Republic
London: J.M. Dent, 1976.
Passion Play
Victoria, B.C.: Beach Holme Publishers, 1992.
Used by permission of Beach Holme Publishers, Victoria, B.C.
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Copyright. The National Library of Canada. (Revised: 1995-06-17)