A Perfect World or an Oppressive World:
A Critical Study of Utopia and Dystopia as Subgenres of Science
Fiction
Ashraf Abdelbaky
Assistant Lecturer in English Department- Faculty of ArtsMinia University- Egypt
&
Honorary Staff in School of Humanities and Social SciencesFaculty of Education and Arts
University of Newcastle- Australia
Synopsis
In this article, I investigate the concept of utopia and dystopia in literature since the time of
Plato and Thomas More and how it became a significant subgenre of science fiction. I
present the kinds of utopia and its fundamental purposes as well as the different explanations
for the term utopia and dystopia by numerous critics. I stress the function of science fiction
as a literary tool to depict the grim picture and the weaknesses of current societies, dystopias,
and to provide a warning for the future of these societies by presenting alternative peaceful
societies; utopias. Therefore, I seek to investigate how utopian writings play a central role in
uncovering the shortcomings of societies and presenting a formative criticism towards them.
I also discuss how utopia and dystopia give women the chance to present their feminist
demands using science fiction.
Key Words: Utopia, Dystopia, Science fiction, Feminism.
Utopia is a name given to an imaginary land where everything is supposed to be ideal
and perfect. The word ‘utopia’—which literally means ‘no place’—has become a synonym
of idealism. “The combination of the Greek ou (‘not’) and topos (‘place’) gives the literary
meaning of (‘no place’). By adding the Latin syllable eu (‘good’ or ‘well’) and then (-ia)
suffix, the meaning becomes ‘good place’”(Sisk 3). Thus, utopia means ‘no place’ or ‘good
place.’ Also, dystopia means ‘bad place’ or ‘anti-utopia.’ In Merriam Webster’s Collegiate
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Dictionary, utopia is defined as “1: an imaginary and indefinitely remote place, 2: a place of
ideal perfection especially in laws, government and social conditions, and 3: an impractical
scheme for social improvement” (1302). In the same dictionary, dystopia is defined as “an
imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives” (361).
However, the concept of utopia cannot be fully examined without considering the
concept of dystopia as each defines the other due to their various conceptual intersections.
Both are closely related to each other, one with optimistic future and the other with
pessimistic one. Anti- utopia is formed by utopia; the anti-utopia is considered a copy of
utopia. In A Glossary of Literary Terms (1988), M. H Abrams states that the term ‘utopia’
has come “to signify the class of fiction which represents an ideal political state and a way of
life” (177). He also adds that the term ‘dystopia’ (bad place) has recently come to be applied
to ‘ works of fiction which represent a very unpleasant imaginary world in which certain
ominous tendencies of our present social, political and technological order are projected in
some future culmination’ (178).
Critics present different explanations for the term Utopia. Tatiana Teslenko has
explained that “over the past two decades, most commentators have arrived at the conclusion
that ‘Utopia’ resists definition because of the plurality of the phenomena involved in the
concept” (1-2). In his famous book The Story of Utopia, Lewis Mumford also considers the
term as representing the “ultimate in human folly for human hope-vain dreams of perfection
in a never-never land or rational efforts to remark man’s environment, his institutions and
even his own erring nature, so as to enrich the possibilities of the common life” (7).
In her online article, “Conscious Dreaming: Feminist Utopian Narrative as Mentor”,
Tracie Welser quotes The American Heritage College Dictionary definition of utopia as “an
ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects”. She describes
utopian novels as a perfect place which is possible or desirable and preferable to the current
social configuration. Some of these social, political, and moral aspects include the goal of
complete equality of all citizens, the elimination of illness, crime, and war, and the
availability of satisfying livelihood.
Plato’s The Republic is considered the earliest example of utopian literary works as it
represents the canon of utopian literature. Therefore, Plato is considered the founder of this
ideal world. In The Republic, Plato depicts an ideal society and presents a detailed
description of its sociopolitical system. Plato’s The Republic offers a democratic utopia.
There is no plot in The Republic like traditional novels; it has only themes, characters, and
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conflict. Socrates is the main character who plays the role of the narrator. In his book
Utopianism, Krishan Kumar explains that this book is “not an exemplification of those
principles in actions, in concrete institutions and ways of life” (39). There are no actions in
the events of the novel; there are only thoughts and dynamic arguments.
This utopian model was later developed by Thomas More (1478–1535) who also
presented a similar society in his Latin book Utopia (1516) that contains the best of
everything and guarantees equality and peace for all its citizens to the extent that
mercenaries are always hired to defend the utopia instead of the good citizens who are
definitely ready to defend their perfect society. Margret Atwood mentions in her introduction
to Brave New World in 2007, that “Sir Thomas More in his own sixteenth-century Utopia,
may have been punning: utopia is the good place that doesn’t exist” (x). Then she adds that:
Utopia and dystopias from Plato’s Republic on have had to cover the same
basic ground that real societies do. All must answer the same questions: Where
do people live, what do they eat, what do they wear, what do they do about sex
and child-rearing? Who has the power, who does that work, how do citizens
relate to nature, and how does economy function? (xi)
The book Utopia depicts an ideal place which was used ever since to define perfect
societies wanted by people and promised by politicians. More’s utopia is considered a satire
on the contemporary society of England at his time and his style has “a profound sense of
political realities” (Hexter 64). The island of Utopia exists only in More’s imagination. He
did not state its location or even its borders. The reader only knows that it is two hundred
miles wide, with an entrance into its great bay. The island has fifty-four cities; the main
economic source of this land is agriculture. They all know about art” (Berneri 95). Utopian
works always describe an imaginary world that has its system of sociopolitical justice. As
Krishan Kumar explains in his book Utopianism “It is here if not now…. Utopia may be
nowhere but historically and conceptually it cannot be just anywhere” (3). Utopia is also
used to describe similar fictional and unrealistic societies seen in literary works but never in
reality.
More’s Utopia that came two thousand years later after Plato’s The Republic. More
presents this work to give a desired image to contemporary England. It presents a utopian
life for all citizens where men and women work together six hours daily farming and
learning a craft at the same time. The highly educated class elects the leaders of that society.
In that society, war, suffering, diseases are unheard of.
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It is truly significant that those two important works of Plato and More represent the
model for most of the utopian writings. They present the elements of the dictatorship of the
government, a remote setting, and definite time in the future. They introduce a pattern that
remained the same until the late 18th century.
Since Sir Thomas More presented Utopia, many writers have produced many works
that developed the utopian genre. The utopian writings come with four unique features. First,
the narrative includes dramatic developments that the readers would not expect. Second, the
narrative usually presents a ruling class within the utopian society. Third, the narrative
introduces norms and values congruent to the high standards of utopian societies. Fourth, the
narrative typically describes a disconnected place that is significantly different than other
places.
Since the time of Plato and Thomas More, the main purpose of utopian works was to
criticize social problems and expose weaknesses in the political and social systems. Utopia
usually challenges the reality and the present condition of society. Utopianism is concerned
with the loss of dignity, humanity, and spirit in society. For ages, there are many different
utopian novels that call for social and political equality. As George Kateb concludes, “The
idea of utopia is timeless. That is to say, it does not develop historically; the earliest utopias
are no less advanced than the latest” (29). Examples can be seen in Samuel Johnson’s The
History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1825) and Butler’s Erewhon (1872).
Alexandra Aldridge comments that the utopian fiction can be “divided into five basic
types: the Earthy Paradise, the Religious Utopia, the Golden Age, the Folk Utopia and the
Planned Society” (3). Each kind of Utopia has been a reaction to certain circumstances that
necessitated its emergence. Economic utopias, for instance, have been a reaction to certain
harsh economic conditions and financial difficulties. Development of capitalism and
commercialism in the early years of the nineteenth century has given birth to utopian
socioeconomic concepts that represented a socioeconomic dream of welfare and even
distribution of wealth. Such concepts were soon embraced and vastly supported by all
dreamers of a utopian life who were later grouped in larger socialist movements calling for
the citizens’ right to do jobs they love and to have enough time for their cultural and artistic
hobbies.
In a similar vein, political utopias preach for a government that continually strives for
the best of its people. Historically, some political systems attempted to achieve perfection
and eliminate cultural and racial differences among their citizens through ‘polyculturalism’
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and integrity. They tried to reach a political system where different communities are equally
involved in the utopian formula without losing their respective characteristics and unique
features.
Religious utopias have been among the common forms of utopia because both the
utopian project and religion aim at eliminating all evils, sufferings and misery from society.
However, reaching a religious utopia is not practically easy because it requires that every
citizen follows the exact ideal form of religious doctrine. Only then, all evils and
shortcomings of society would disappear giving birth to the utopian society. This form of
utopia is based upon some basic religious concepts such as reward and punishment. An
illustrative example of religious utopia is Paradise of Aden, a well-known concept in Islam,
Christianity, and Judaism that promises a paradise for good people and an everlasting hell
for bad people. Also, both utopia and religious tradition are intertwined because their shared
destination as both offer ‘gardens of delight’, free of all worries, diseases, poverty, or wars.
Other examples of religious utopias are the Buddhist concepts of ‘Nirvana’ and the Hindu
concept of Moksha. Both are supposed to establish perfect societies on common religious
principles. Religious utopias always value the individual and collective responsibility of all
citizens, and their promised ‘heavens’ are not attainable except by sincere effort and
commitment.
Scientific utopias present a high-tech world with a highly advanced technological
model that can support a utopian life. In a scientific utopia, technological advancement aims
at perfecting the utopians’ lives by eliminating anything that is not up to the utopian
standards. Science and technology fight diseases, pain and death. Citizens of technological
utopia are provided with everything they could need. In addition, basic human tasks such as
eating, growing, sleeping and reproduction are always assisted which makes them relatively
different than other forms of utopia.
Utopian works focus on reflecting the social issues of any society. In this regard,
Moses Finley concludes, “Utopian ideas and fantasies, like all ideas and fantasies, grow out
of society to which they are a response” (5). In her book Journey through Utopia (1971),
Marie Louise Berneri states a related idea that Utopias are considered plans of societies
functioning mechanically, dead structures conceived by economists, politicians, and
moralists; according to her, such an exclusionary focus undermined Utopia’s potential to
reflect what Berneri calls “the living dreams of poets” (3–4).
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On the other hand, Lyman Tower Sargent remarks that, though all fiction describes a
‘no place,’ Utopian fiction generally presents a good or bad ‘no place’. He stresses that since
the time of Thomas More, many commentators attempted to define Utopia; however, until
the present, this phenomenon has resisted static definitions. Meanwhile, our understanding
of Utopia has been systematically problematized (30).
According to Darko Suvin, a leading SF critic, the definition of utopia is “the verbal
construction of a particular quasi-human community where sociopolitical institutions, norms,
and individual relationships are organized according to a perfect principle than in the
author’s community, this construction being based on estrangement arising out of an
alternative historical hypothesis” (49). While Ruth Levitas conceives utopia, in The Concept
of Utopia, as the expression of a desire for different (and better) ways of being human with
its emphasis on human desire (151). Her definition of utopia responds to that of a broader
phenomenon— Utopianism. However, Levitas is not directly concerned with literary
utopias; her definition reinforces the argument that Utopian literature should be treated as a
subset of a broader phenomenon (vii-xi).
The utopian works always have titles which give the names a description of a utopian
or a dystopian time or place. Also, it indicates that the work is a depiction of the social and
the political systems in a utopian or dystopian place. Typically, the two examined novels
Huxley’s Brave New World and Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time include some words
that reflect the narrative. Another example could be Well’s A Modern Utopia (1905) and
Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four (1949),
In contrast to the utopian narrative is the dystopia. Rather than propose a hopeful
reconfiguration of society which eradicates collective ills, the dystopia envisages the worst
possible future in which utopian dreaming has been subverted by repressive forces (Welser).
It is worth mentioning that utopia has failed in spreading the spiritual values and keeping the
old family system. Saman quotes Winifred Holtby’s description of utopia in the modern age
as follows:
We live in a puzzle age… The old certainties which made the 19 the and early
20 the centuries so comfortable hold us no longer: conventional Christianities,
the moral of bourgeois respectability, belief in democracy, progress,
individualism and the nation, the righteousness of family life, the in fabillility
of reason and the inevitable benevolence of science, have all been questioned,
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and the questioning disturbs even those who refuse to renounce their ancient
creeds. (6)
Therefore, utopia falls and dystopia rises. The collapse of utopia and the rise of dystopia is
the result of many different reasons that stand against Utopia. The two world wars and the
Soviet Union’s shattering have been traumatic. In his book Utopia and Anti-Utopia in
Modern Times (1987), Krishan Kumar stresses this point wondering: “How could Utopia
stand up in the face of Nazism, Stalinism, genocide, mass unemployment?” (381)
During the 20th century, the genre appeared in a new form, dystopian or AntiUtopian, for its depiction of an un-ideal society. In his book From Utopia to Nightmare
(1962), Chad Walsh wonders about the reasons behind the fall of utopian vision and the
appearance of the utopian vision. He later mentions two reasons: “One is that utopia has
failed. The other is that Utopia has succeeded. Utopia has failed and succeeded outside the
bounds of the fictional page” (117). Utopia succeeded in creating new scientific
developments, eliminating slavery, introducing women’s rights. Consequently, it falls after
achieving its goals and becoming a fact.
One cannot understand the life of a utopian society without a previous background of
a dystopia. Likewise, one cannot make a warning of a dystopia without some experience of
what a utopia would look like. Both genres are equally effective in presenting society.
One of the characteristics of utopian and dystopian literature is that readers are
supposed to understand that the story is true and that a perfect or a terrible place does exist.
On the other hand, this feature is reversed in utopian or Anti-utopian literature, where the
readers are supposed to fear what is presented, knowing that violence is fictional and should
be avoided by making changes in the present and the current conditions. Edith Clowes states
that utopian fiction call for “a nihilistic attitude towards both the present and the future to
abandon the notion of a beneficial social imagination” (32).
Anti-utopia or dystopia follows the tradition of utopia technically, but it differs
thematically. Instead of happiness and prosperity, people live in despair and suffering. That
is why the term dystopia appears as a counterpart of utopia. As Aldridge sums up, dystopia
is not considered “utopia in reverse as it has often been called, but a singular generic
category issuing out of a 20th century shift of attitudes towards Utopia” (ix). Moylon also
adds that the very essence of the utopian works undermines the utopian impulse because it
makes the horrified reader satisfied with what ‘is’ and hopeful at least not to change it to the
worse (9). Dystopia can be defined as a society characterized by poverty, suffering, squalor,
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or oppression. In addition, the Egyptian professor Angele Samaan calls dystopia, in her
introduction to Brave New World, as “a prophetic warning”. She regards it as “a product and
symptom of the ceaseless restlessness and uncertainty of the present and the quest for a
better future typical of a speedily changing world” (viii). Historically speaking, the term
dystopia can be attributed to MP John Stuart Mill who coined the word in 1868:
It is, perhaps, too complimentary to call them utopians, they ought rather to be
called dystopian, or caco-topians, what is commonly called utopian is
something too good to be practicable; but what they appear to favor is too bad
to be practicable. (qtd. By Kumar, 1987, 447)
In fact, it is the new scientific development that led to the loss of morals, manners,
and the spread of individualism and selfishness in society. In his book Utopia and AntiUtopia in Modern Times (1987), Kumar clarifies that the anti-utopia is formed by utopia,
and feeds parasitically on it…utopia is the original; anti-utopia is considered a copy only, as
it was always colored black. It is utopia that gives positive sides to which anti-utopia makes
the negative response. Anti-utopia draws its material from Utopia and reassembles it in a
manner that denies the affirmative of utopia (100)
Dystopias usually introduce the suffering and the problems of contemporary society
and function as a warning against some modern trends, often the threat of oppressive
regimes and their strict control over citizens. In this kind of literary work, the author presents
utopian elements that stand against achieving justice, freedom and happiness in society.
James M. Morris and Andrea L. Kross define the word “dystopia” in their book, The A to Z
of Utopianism saying:
The word “dystopia” (or “distopia”) is derived from the Greek dus (diseased,
faulty, difficult, unfavorable, or bad) + topos (place), meaning a bad or faulty
place. It is the opposite of “utopia” (or “eutopia”) from the Greek ou (no or not)
+ topos (place), meaning literally “no place” but commonly accepted as
meaning “a good place.” “Dystopia” is used in literature or common parlance to
designate or describe a would-be perfect society that is, in fact, a very bad,
unfavorable,
or
faulty
place
or
society.
“Dystopian”
(or
Dystopia/Dystopian/Dystopianism. (83)
Dystopia is also defined in many science fiction novels as a society that is
nightmarish or inhuman in character as a result of political oppression and technological
overload and ecological collapse. Writers create dystopias as a description of a black
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frighten world full of social and political warnings. Kateb asserts that “One consequence of
this conception is the Anti-utopian novel which uses the familiar utopian convention to
express a mode of dead and despair occasioned by the result of the implication of utopian
dreams” (81).
Erika Gottlieb explains that dystopian fiction regards “totalitarian dictatorship as its
prototype that puts its whole population continuously on trial, a society that finds its essence
in concentration camps, that is, in disfranchising and enslaving entire classes of its
citizens…. glorifying and justifying violence…” (41). Samuel Butler’s Erewhon (1872) is
regarded as a dystopia because it presents a group of sick people who were treated as
criminals and at the same time they were taking care of thieves in hospitals. Another famous
example is George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four (1949), which is a utopian novel
about a totalitarian society, systemizing its population through propaganda rather than drugs.
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) describes a future in North America
governed by strict religious rules. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932) is also often
considered as a dystopia because of the strict government of society, the absence of morals,
and the spread of drugs. Sharon Stevenson explains:
In a Dystopia the author must create a fantasy society or state of the future or
the past where the characters experience palpable suffering which the readers
fear are not the result of individual circumstances, but which could happen to
them, given the right social conditions. (139)
The main idea of the utopia and dystopia is to make people think about the world in
which they live and this is what the author of utopian and dystopian novel tries to convey.
As stated in George Kateb’s Utopia:
The first job of the utopian writer is to take stock of the world in which he is
born to assess its total functioning. Into this assessment enters, necessarily, the
entire past of the human species, but that past determines his counter world
only to extend that effectively survives in present practice. (34-35)
Many utopias can be seen as dystopias regarding their treatment of social issues like justice,
freedom and happiness. Stephen Spenser states that everything that is potentially in us has a
positive and negative aspect. There has never been an age in which communities and
individuals had a greater possibility of developing towards greater happiness and freedom.
She adds that we feel a tomorrow passing upon us which may lead to the end of individuality
and perhaps also of civilization. (125)
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Utopias and dystopias have the same function which is depicting a society which has
some principles and ideologies that represent power and freedom. This means that utopia or
dystopia cannot be identified without reference to the viewer’s point of view, and that the
apparent differences between the two are associated with the role of individuals in society.
Thus, one person’s utopia is another person’s dystopia since the rules within society are
primarily the same for both persons. They differ mostly in the way of keeping stability,
giving happiness, and removing suffering. This stresses the fact that both utopias and
dystopias have the same function in different societies. What separates the protagonist from
the surrounding society is a sense of individuality that pushes him to view life in a different
way. His disbelief in the government which controls his life forces him to stand against the
norms of society and call for freedom in that utopian society. Thus, the dystopia appears
when society rejects the individuality of every citizen and links to those of the majority.
Carl Freedman, in Critical Theory and Science Fiction, asserts: “The sciencefictional world is not only one different in time or place from our own, but one whose chief
interest is precisely the difference that such difference makes” (xvi). This study discusses the
connection between utopia and science fiction. Both genres of utopia and science fiction are
related together. George Kateb states: “science cannot carry on without utopia nor utopia
without science, but to wed utopia with science takes a degree of skill not available to most
writers of utopian fiction, H.G. Wells and, possibly, Edward Bellamy being the only
exceptions that came to mind” (33).
Utopia appears entirely connected with science fiction in describing the way of life
and how people live in their society. As Claire P Curtis states: “The fiction of Science fiction
is primarily a fiction concerning how we get from one point to another. The description of a
place, the prescription for how to live, is the contextually rich thought experiment that we
need in order to think about where and who we want to be” (161).
In her online article “Women on the Edge of Time: Science fiction and the Feminist
Movement”, Vida J. Maralani points out:
Science Fiction, as a literary genre, is commonly accepted as a male realm.
Oftentimes, the authors are men; the heroes are men; and women, when they
appear, are sexual and/or decorative creatures that further glorify men.
However, in the late sixties and early seventies, a generation of women
writers entered the genre and changed the essence of what ‘Science Fiction’
represented. Their voices infused Science fiction with feminist ideas, theories
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and critical social commentaries about issues of gender, race, class, and the
survival of species.
Then she adds that science fiction gives women a chance in areas of style and content that
were not available in the other types of fiction. Therefore, women make a revolution in the
genre of science fiction presenting many significant literary works. In her article
“Ecofeminist Perspectives on Technology in the Science fiction of Marge Piercy”, Anna
Martinson comments: “The genre of Science fiction exhibits a fascination with technology,
and feminist Science fiction often involves careful consideration of the intersections between
gender and technology”(51).Then she adds that feminist Science fiction often attempts to
provide an extended and vivid exploration of physical, emotional, economic, and cultural
impacts of new technologies without necessarily remaining faithful to any particular
philosophical commitment.
Later on, the 20th century has witnessed great developments that urged writers to
resort to science fiction to reflect their ideas. According to Tom Moylon, utopian works that
appeared in the west revived during the late 19th centuries and the beginning of the twentieth
as a result of the different social movements that were forging a “common opposition to the
fast developing power of industrial capitalism and imperialism” (7). Science fiction turned to
be the best available genre for describing social issues in the form of utopia and dystopia.
Therefore, both utopia and dystopia are frequently functioned in science fiction works that
tackle various problems.
Science fiction is more concerned with character, society, or other speculative ideas
and themes that are not centrally connected to scientific speculations. Freedman asserts:
“The science-fictional world is not only one different in time or place from our own, but one
whose chief interest is precisely the difference that such difference makes” (p. xvi). Science
fiction novels always present questions and try to answer them in order to create changes in
our life in the future.
Science fiction as a genre was first introduced in the late 1890s and 1900s with the
writings of some great authors like H.G. Wells whose novel The Time Machine (1895) is
regarded as the most famous novel in that period in which Wells presents a world in the
future inhabited by primitive slaves who have no civilization. Wells adds new features to the
dystopian novels of the 20th century. He is considered the model for the great writers of
utopian and dystopian literature in the 20th century such as E. M Forster, George Orwell,
Yevgeny Zamyatin, and Aldous Huxley. Those writers follow the Wellsian model and
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present great literary works. Also, H.G. Wells’s Modern Utopia (1905) is regarded as the
most important scientific utopia. Huxley writes in one of his letters that Brave New World is
“a novel about the horrible future of the Wellsian Utopia and a revolt against it” (Huxley
281). The famous British writer George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four (1949) is also
considered among the famous novels in the genre of science fiction.
There are different subgenres of science fiction. Hard science fiction is a sub-genre
that means fiction which is based on hard sciences (e.g. physics, astronomy, or chemistry).
One may need a scientific background to understand what is going on through some events.
Soft science fiction is simply the opposite of hard science fiction which means that it. The
term first appeared in the late 1960s and refers to science fiction which is based on social
sciences, like psychology, anthropology, sociology, political science, and so on.
From the many definitions of science fiction novels, many characteristics of this
literary genre can be figured out. A science fiction novel is often based on scientific concepts
or new scientific or technological principles that are different from the conventional novel. It
may make predictions about life in the future, or alternative times. It often deals with aliens,
life on other worlds or outer space, or unknown civilizations. Science fiction novels often
comment on important issues in contemporary societies such as political or social systems
that are different from those of the known present or the past. A work of science fiction has,
at least, one or two of these characteristics. However, there is lots of diversity and variety
within this genre.
Although the first science fiction novel, Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (1818), was
written by a woman, the genre of science fiction has been totally dominated by male writers.
The science fiction genre prior to 1960s was completely dominated by male authors. Their
heroes were mainly men trying to avoid their assigned responsibilities. Joanna Russ states
that prior to the feminist utopias of the sixties and seventies women were considered by
writers as “the other.” She has explained the point saying:
…and the other does not have the kind of inner life or consciousness that you
and I have. In fact, the other has no mind at all…. No other ever has the
motives that you and I have; the other contains a mysterious essence, which
causes it to behave as it does; in fact ‘it’ is not a person at all, but a projected
wish or fear. (83)
At that time, women were traditionally far from scientific and technological fields. Jules
Verne (1828-1905) and H.G. Wells (1866-1946), the pioneers of this genre, had no place for
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women in their fantasies. Women in other writers’ fantasies were just stereotypes of the
existing society. The Science fiction genre gives women freedom regarding the style of
writing as well as content. Sarah Lefanu states in Feminism and Science fiction (1988) that
Science Fiction: ‘breaks down the traditional hierarchies between writers and readers, and
challenges the conventional authority of the single author’ (6). Therefore, women writers try
to make the best use of Science fiction as a useful tool for examining society’s conceptions
and traditional norms of gender and sexuality. Sarah Lefanu asserts that Science fiction gives
freedom to writers more than any other literary genre:
Unlike other forms of genre writing, such as detective stories and romance,
which demand the reinstatement of order and thus can be described as ‘closed’
texts; Science fiction is by its nature interrogative and open. (100)
Women writers in the utopian literature of the 19th and early 20th century, at the time of first
wave Feminism, often wrote about gender and sexism. Both Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s
Herland (1915) and Virginia Woolf’s Orlando (1928) belong to the first wave of feminism
because of calling for woman’s rights. During the 1920s, women writers such as Clare
Winger Harris (1891-1968) and Gertrude Barrows Bennett (1883-1848) produced science
fiction works based on female perceptions. After World War II, women writers entered
science fiction and achieved a radical change in this genre as they present new topics they
could not discuss in their real life. This is referred to by Jeanne Gomoll in Women of Other
Worlds, who states:
For feminist churning a revolution in the midst of patriarchal institutions,
Science fiction offers the space to imagine what new institutions, relationships
and cultures might look like when women and men stand equal, with the same
opportunities to conduct their work and their relationships. (6)
Feminist science fiction novels depict a utopian society free from gender issues and
oppression. The writing of utopian fiction almost disappeared after World War II. As a
reaction to this terrible war, dystopias, like George Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty-Four (1948),
began to dominate the genre. The appearance of new utopian writings by American writers
in the late 1960s and the 1970s achieved a great social uprising leading to a change in the
traditions of the genre creating a genre called feminist utopia.
The 1970s has witnessed a revival in the utopian literature that gives women an
opportunity to ask for their social change in their societies. Therefore, many women writers
present great literary utopian works that call for different issues related to women’s role in
29
society. Feminist science fiction writers use the genre of utopian literature as a literary tool
to present their ideas and issues. They started to write about gender, race, sex and social
equality. Most of these topics relate to feminism.
Tom Moylan argues that such writers attempted to create in their works what he
called ‘critical Utopias,’ retaining an ‘awareness of the limitations of the
utopian tradition, so that these texts reject Utopia as blueprint while preserving
it as dream.’ Such Utopias are able to function effectively as critiques of the
status quo, while maintaining a self-critical awareness that prevents them from
descending into empty utopian cliché (qtd. in Booker 339)
Teslenko that feminist utopian tradition flourished with the second wave of the
feminist movement of the late 1960 till early 1980s.This period witnessed a significant
ideological revolution that caused numerous political, social, and cultural changes. One of
these changes was an explosion of feminist narratives that exposed the inferior positioning of
women in patriarchy and met their demand for envisioning a better social order. Indeed,
during this period, feminist writers produced works that reenergized many literary genres. In
particular, in their interventions into the utopian genre, feminists were moving toward an
open-endedness that sought to overcome the tendency toward monological stagnation4 that,
as they argued, had long haunted patriarchal Utopia. (7)
As M. Keith Booker (1994) points out, a significant lack of genuine attention to
gender issues in mainstream utopia suggests that gender prejudice is far more difficult to
overcome than other social conventions. Booker explains this resistance by the fact that
sexism is one of the most ingrained and invisible characteristics of Western socio-political
reasoning. (33)
These feminist authors use utopian science fiction for analyzing contemporary
gender or sex roles and for advocating social change from feminist perspectives. Feminist
utopia appears as an important medium of communication for new ideas and values.
Teslenko indicates:
Feminist utopias of the 1970s expose patriarchal social order and offer such a
new conceptual space: they envision a different time/place that allows for
ideological change. It is quite a challenge to portray a vision of the future that
can generate change in the present. First, feminist Utopias must avoid fixing the
act of social dreaming by creating blueprints of utopian worlds because doing
so removes the transformative potential of the imagined future. Second,
30
feminist Utopias must describe a better world for women while working with
the very tools of patriarchy in the form of language. Consequently, they need to
disrupt the genre setting ‘rules’ of mainstream utopia through the use of
ambiguity, multiplicity, and openness. (x)
Then Teslenko states also that’ feminist utopia describes ‘the good place which is no place’;
but as a genre, it is grounded in place and time: it reflects the feminist attempts to change
their inferior positioning in the socio-historic context of the 1970s (xi).
For most of these women writers, science fiction was a very convenient method for
discussing such taboo topics which were previously awkward and controversial, or only
confined to men. Consequently, utopia and dystopia give women a chance to explore
freedom of women in an ideal world. In dealing with the issue of gender and sexuality, the
researcher will discuss all the related themes and concepts related to feminist utopian science
fiction.
Feminist utopia was at its height from the late 1960s and went on during the 1970s
and the 1980s. Some women writers created single-sex societies where women are able to
live without men and carry out men’s roles creating genderless societies. Feminist utopian
thinking has, as feminist critic Anne K. Mellor noticed, forged a close link with the literary
genre of science fiction, “a genre which provides the opportunity to test various hypotheses
concerning societal organization and ethical codes” (244). Many influential feminist utopias
were written in the 1970s; the most known examples include Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left
Hand of Darkness (1969); Joanna Russ’s The Female Man (1975); Marge Piercy’s Woman
on the Edge of Time (1976), and Octavia Butler’s Kindred (1979).
I would like to conclude saying that utopia and dystopia are regarded as significant
subgenres of science fiction. The two concepts are considered a literary tool to explore the
grim picture and the shortcomings of current societies, dystopias, and to provide a warning
for the future of these societies by presenting alternative peaceful societies; utopias.
Therefore utopian writings play a central role in uncovering the weaknesses of societies and
delivering a formative criticism towards them. Utopia and dystopia also give women the
chance to call for their feminist issues using a science fiction atmosphere.
31
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