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PostPosted: April 1st, 2009, 10:27 pm 
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I completely forgot about Lord of the Flies! That one is definitely one of my favourites. :yes: I think it's amazing how people come up with this kind of stuff. I'd love to write some dystopian literature myself someday.


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PostPosted: February 25th, 2011, 2:52 am 
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I'm rather surprised I didn't post in here yet.

I read the following: 1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 but the thing is it's been so long since I've read them so I'm not quite sure I would understand it all. More recently I've read Blindness, A Clockwork Orange, The Handsmaid's Tale, and Battle Royale and I've enjoyed all of them.

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 Post subject: Re: Utopian & Dystopian Literature
PostPosted: March 19th, 2011, 6:05 pm 
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I've been meaning to read Blindness. Is it any good?


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 Post subject: Re: Utopian & Dystopian Literature
PostPosted: March 19th, 2011, 7:23 pm 
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Blindness is rather good. Jose Saramago has an interesting writing style where everything flows without punctuations or quotation marks and the like. The way he writes you can actually feel quite blind going through the world.

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PostPosted: June 12th, 2011, 5:59 pm 
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ethelfleda wrote:
in my opinion, 1984 is easily the greatest dystopian novel ever written, and one of the greatest books of all time. for me, even scarier than the torture and the surveillance, is the idea of the state stripping down the language until there are no words with which people can express their dissatisfaction with society, so eventually they won't be capable of even thinking anything against the state. freedom of speech and action is one thing, but freedom of thought is even more important - the idea of the state having absolute control over the thoughts of the people really freaked me out.

It has been quoted before but it deserves to be repeated. The idea that when you limit the language to the point where people are only able to communicate the most basic then you truly kill all other thinking and dreaming. So interesting how connected thought and language is.

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 Post subject: Re: Utopian & Dystopian Literature
PostPosted: June 15th, 2011, 12:22 pm 
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I'd actually care to disagree with that. Having recently read Yevgeny Zamyatin's WE [which is often toted as the "original" dystopian novel] the idea of government being so total as to be able to control thought is not a new concept. Certainly an interesting and terrifying prospect, but not new. In fact, I would say WE takes the idea a step further as by the end of the novel every member of the One State is subjected to the Operation [essentially a lobotomy] that makes it impossible to dream, imagine, or otherwise compose opposing thoughts in response to what citizens see around them.


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 Post subject: Re: Utopian & Dystopian Literature
PostPosted: June 15th, 2011, 1:18 pm 
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^Oh, but I didn't claim that 1984 was the original or the first novel dealing with totalitarian regimes. I was merely supporting the notion that limiting freedom of thought is devastating. I think the whole concept is interesting. Especially, the fact that the Party in 1984 wants to "cure" rebels. They would never kill a person who has rebellious or opposing thoughts in his body or his brain because in that case there would still be resistance. Therefore they must brainwash and break people into complete submissionn. Even to the point where the victims will eventually confess a genuine love for Big Brother.

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 Post subject: Re: Utopian & Dystopian Literature
PostPosted: June 28th, 2011, 12:37 pm 
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I've read some Utopian/Dystopian literature in the past, and I just ... I don't know. I can't seem to like any of it.

The exception being "1984" of course. Why this and no other? Probably because of what ethelfleda said about it.

Perhaps it's because I didn't read it for class that I got so much more enjoyment out of it than the others.

I've read "The Giver," "Lord of the Flies," "Anthem" and "Brave New World." None of which I enjoyed. All of which were required reading in school. :duh:

I actually thought "Brave New World" was good for about the first half of the book. And then it basically turned into "Anthem." At least to me. And I hate "Anthem." Hate is an understatement when it comes to that book. :P I think the only reason I was able to come through BNW without completely hating it was because it was read for on of my Political Theory courses, and I got to tear it apart with Plato and Aristotle in a paper. :lol: I don't like to "study" literature, so I suppose being "taught" dystopia/utopian literature doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps its all the dark, I mean really dark, threads and such depressing nature of these stories that really get under my skin. Gah - I don't know what it is about this type of literature that I don't like. I just don't like it. :P Perhaps it's the characters, and their inherent whining and annoying qualities. HAHAHAHA!

I never thought of "Wall-E" as a dystopian story, as Darky pointed out, but I guess if you think about it, it really kind of is.

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