A Ordem e o caos: diferentes momentos da literatura distópica de ficção científica.

Abstract

This dissertation aims at discussing the importance of the historical moment in the construction of the narrative of a Science Fiction novel, focusing on Brave New World (1932), by the English writer Aldous Huxley, and The Execution Channel (2007), by the Scottish novelist Ken MacLeod. The first one describes a dystopic society in a distant future, revealing, however, evident aspects of the 1920s and the 1930s. The second one, which is about a plausible near future for humankind, though presenting an alternative to the History of the period between 2000 and 2007, clearly refers to worries on the post-modern individual s mind. The different moments in which the analyzed novels are inserted the interwar period and the beginning of the twenty-first century, respectively allow us to make some considerations starting from definitions of utopia and dystopia conceived along the history of utopic thought, especially through sociopolitical perspectives which are relevant to the periods in question, attempting to emphasize how History is present in Huxley s and MacLeod s narratives under consideration