It’s interesting how we have a genre of works that are ‘dystopian’ which are all really inspired by the original ‘utopian’ work, Plato’s Republic.
And if you read the Republic, it’s about as dystopian as it gets. ‘The Legislator’ sorts a community into three sects according to supposedly innate and hereditary talents, Gold (the leisure class of ‘philosopher-kings’), Silver (the soldiers), and Bronze (the slaves). There is technically a fourth class of ‘undesireables’ who are ‘taken away’ after birth. Plato doesn’t tell us where or how, but the Spartans (his inspiration for the Republic) threw these infants down the well.
The legal system, education system, and propaganda of the Republic is a big lie designed so as to instill this artificial order as the natural division of peoples. Plato expects hesitation at the start of the project, but after two generations the lie will be seen as innate truth. Bertrand Russell notes that this is actually eerily prophetic, using the transition of Japan into the modern warrior state as an example.
Anyway, this of course all reads like a prequel to 1984 or We or Brave New World. We tend to describe the modern books following from that inspiration as ‘dystopian’. But, aren’t they really Utopian? And the ‘dystopian’ part is the reality of what happens when and how powerful men try to build their Utopia on the backs of the serfs?
by mrgoyette
2 Comments
As I’m sure you’re aware, the word ‘utopia’ literally means ‘nowhere’: it’s always had somewhat derisive implications, roughly for the reasons you’re giving. One person’s conception of the perfect world might well be nightmarish to someone else, and any government that claims to be able to solve all of humanity’s problems will pretty much inevitably be a totalitarian one.
Isn’t Utopia technically the neutral main category of a fictional future that can be distinguished in Eutopia (positive Utopia) and Dystopia (negative Utopia)? I know its use has developed to conflate Utopia and Eutopia and Dystopia used to be more commonly called Anti-Utopia, but technically…?