Distopia. Genealogie e sviluppi di un concetto alla moda,

The essay focuses on the meaning of the concept dystopia and the history of the first uses of the word. It then discusses from a historiographical point of view some of the main studies that, during the last few decades, dealt with dystopian narratives. In the 1980s the debate on totalitarianism drew Scholars attention to the dystopian tradition, as it was widely considered a precious perspective to approach the totalitarian phenomenon from different lines of thought. The visibility gained by dystopian literature called to the forefront the relationship between utopia and dystopia and it favoured, on one side, the adoption of conventional, shared criteria to tell dystopia from anti-utopia, while, on the other side, it prompted a discussion on the differences and similarities between science fiction and dystopia. Historiography also rose to the challenge of reconstructing the dystopian tradition, with several attempts to investigate the historical and political context that shaped it, or, alternatively, the literary models that inspired it. The essay concludes by addressing the main themes of contemporary dystopian fiction.