What Does The Word "Dystopia" Mean?

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What Does The Word "Dystopia" Mean?

2 Answers

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Answer 1

Dystopia is a make-believe place or situation, wherein the state of living is very bad, because of scarcity, tyranny and terrorism.
Popular written works that describe a dystopic society include 1984 by George Orwell and Anthem by Ayn Rand.

Dystopia is often referred to as anti-utopia, as it is the exact opposite of a utopian society which is an ideal life. Although some say anti-utopia and dystopia are two separate terms. The difference being that dystopia is a completely horrible state that makes no pretences of being a good life, whereas anti-utopia is one that is almost utopian except for one big flaw.

Dystopia is usually typified by a dictatorial type of governmental institution or another kind of authoritative power that is all-controlling.
The word 'dystopia' was coined by John Stuart Mill in the year 1868.

Answer 2

This is a coinage taken from Thomas More's "Utopia" or no-place. If a Utopia is an ideal, imaginary society, a dystopia is an imaginary society worse than our own (an earlier term was "anti-Utopian.) Typically, dystopias are created by science fiction writers; they usually take a trend or problem in an existing society and exaggerate it, to warn readers of dangers present in their own lives. An early example of dystopian fiction is "We," a novel written by Evgeny Zamyatin in 1921.

This Russian author criticised the new Soviet system in his novel, which imagines a future in which people no longer have names but are known only by initial letters; marriage and other close ties are forbidden. The novel was not published in the USSR, and Zamyatin had to leave soon afterwards. Dystopian fiction often provokes an angry reaction, often (as in Zamyatin's case) from the very authorities it satirises.