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1.3.1. Traditions of the dystopian genre
In the literature of the 20th century, dystopia became a kind of leading genre. Dystopia (from the Greek " anti " - against and " utopos " - a place that does not exist anywhere) - a direction in fiction, in a narrow sense, a description of a totalitarian state or society, in a broad sense, a description of any society in which negative development trends have prevailed ( Lyubimova, 2001: 12). This genre is represented by authors from all over the world: E. Zamyatin in Russia, O. Huxley and J. Orwell in the UK, R. Bradbury in the USA.
The term dystopia was first mentioned by the philosopher John Stuart Mill in 1868. However, they believe that the roots of dystopia go back to antiquity: among the works of Marcus Aurelius and Aristotle, there are works with features of dystopia. Jonathan Swift in 1727 presents a technocratic dystopia in the third part of Gulliver's Travels. Features of dystopia can also be traced in the works of Jules Verne ("Five hundred million begums") and the works of Jack London ("Iron Heel") ( Kolomeitseva , 1999: 67).
Later in the 20th century, dystopia flourished as a literary genre: two world wars, socio-political instability, revolutions, the establishment of harsh totalitarian regimes became a solid foundation for building dystopian plots. Thus, in Russia, the dystopian novel “We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin became a natural consequence of revolutions and imposed socialism , which describes an absolutely mechanized society, where a person is no longer a person, but simply a “ number ”, where dissent is forcibly eradicated, where ideology is compulsively instilled through the media, where people it is forbidden to show any emotions. A similar anti-socialist attitude underlies Andrey Platonov's The Pit, Ayn Rand's Anthem, and John Kendell 's Future Tomorrow.
Hastings ' City of Eternal Night (1920), Karel Capek's War with the Salamanders (1936), Murray 's Night of the Swastika Constantine (1937) (Arkhipova, 1992: 322).
Separately, Aldous Huxley's greatest anti-utopia "Brave New World" should be singled out, in which he brings the ideas of capitalism to absurdity: the chronology in the new caste technocratic state is from the Christmas of Henry Ford, the American automobile magnate, and the concepts of "love", "mother", " father" are prohibited.
The theme of totalitarianism stands apart in the world of dystopias. Anti- totalitarian ideas were actively developed by George Orwell in such works as "Animal Farm" and "1984", Anthony Burgess novel "A Clockwork Orange", Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451.
At the present stage, the genre of dystopia continues its development and is in close contact with the genre of science fiction and science fiction. Among the most famous works are Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy, James Dashner 's The Maze Runner, the novel
Viktor Pelevin "SNUFF", the work of Kazuo Ishiguro "Don't Let Me Go". In modern dystopias, a person confronts not the socio -political system, but the chaos of the present and the frightening uncertainty of the future. The works describe a person disoriented in the system of cultural and historical landmarks (Skvortsov, 2015: 174).
Dystopia is considered a logical consequence of the development of the utopia genre, but in fact these genres are opposite in relation to each other. While utopia draws unrealizable, often unrealizable ideals, shows the future world in an exclusively positive light, dystopia concentrates on the negative aspects of a particular society, political system. Moreover, unlike utopia, focused on building an ideal society, dystopia is anti -propocentric and focuses on resolving the conflict between society and the individual.
( Morson , 1991:35).
In dystopia, a close connection with historical reality is clearly traced. The most acute trends in the development of society fall under the scope of the authors: totalitarianism, fascism, etc. With their works, the authors show a reaction to such trends, moreover, they try to predict the further development of societies developing in these directions. The society or state created by the anti-utopian writer is abstract in nature: it is located in isolated corners of the Earth, or even goes beyond the boundaries of our planet; in addition, authors often attribute the effect of dystopias to the future.
The main distinguishing feature of dystopia as a genre is the image of a society that has reached a moral, social, political, and economic dead end: all this is due to disastrous decisions made by both individuals and society as a whole ( Kolomeitseva , 1999: 68). There are no individuals in a dystopian society, there are only members of society, since any such society functions on the basis of a system of rituals, and each member of this society is obliged to honor and perform these rituals, to play the role imposed on him. The main role in this ritual is most often played by the head of state, who sets strict limits on behavior, and inexorably punishes those who go beyond these limits. The whole society without exception is adjusted to the framework: the behavior of a person, his desires, and even thoughts are averaged.
The plot of the anti-utopia is mainly based on the sudden refusal of one of the members of society to follow the usual ritual: the conflict begins when he realizes himself as a person. In dystopia, an atmosphere of fear typically reigns, panic fear of not meeting the norms accepted in society, and fear of continuing to live in this society, or rather, existing in it in constant submission. Freethinking, betrayal of the public idea, disobedience are punished extremely severely: from forcible instillation of faith in the ideas of society and the state to arrest or exile ( Kolomeitseva , 1999: 68).
The dystopian genre is interesting for its freedom in the choice of stylistic means; typical artistic means used in dystopias include satirical devices, allusions, reminiscences, and reference to science fiction.
An important fact that is present in every dystopia is the “state for the good of the state” system, in which the happiness and well-being of the individual is absolutely leveled, sacrificed for the benefit of the prosperity of the existing society. Gradually realizing this, the protagonist goes through a difficult path from a doubt hidden in his thoughts to an active opposition to the hated system (Lyubimova, 2001: 78).
Dystopia is a kind of attempt to predict the future of a particular society in a certain development of events. Dystopia is the result of a rethinking of many social and spiritual processes of society, a warning for all mankind.
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