[DYSTOPIA (noun) An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. The opposite to Utopia.]
I've just discovered this genre (which I thought came under Science Fiction...doh!) so I thought I'd like to share it with those out there who haven't discovered it yet. The following information comes from an article by Danielle Binks, which she wrote for 'Off the Shelf', a publication by Penguin. The full publication can be accessed by clicking on the link (forward to pages 22 & 23). It's aimed at teachers but I'm sure you'll enjoy reading it and get a lot of great ideas fro it.
Dystopic society is characterised by human misery and oppression – stories are often set in cities, where humans have little contact with nature and are suffocated by their modernized surroundings. Politics in such novels are often brutal and dictatorial, exemplifying the belief that ‘power corrupts’. The genre is bleak by its very definition. It explores and fictionalizes the worst traits of humanity and often predicts a desolate future. So should we be concerned that a genre which exemplifies human misery should be so popular for young readers? How can such storytelling be considered beneficial, let alone entertaining, for young adults?
Bleak it may be, but the Dystopian genre is also a YA category that demands the highest quality of authors and the finest of writing. Complex themes are layered with heroic journeys as writers hold up a fun-house-mirror version of our society – embellished and ruined."
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