Anti-utopia is a genre that describes the world or state order, which, in contrast to utopia (an ideal, happy world), develops according to a scenario that is negative for ordinary people. It is difficult to call some books the best, but there really are not so many special ones.
What is dystopia in the literature
The term "dystopia" appeared in literature at the beginning of the 16th century, together with the concept of "utopia", which was introduced by the Englishman Thomas More, calling his book about an impeccable state on an ideal island. Soon, all books about a bright future began to be called utopias, in contrast to which anti-utopias, which are also called dystopias, appeared today, this is one and the same.
Usually a dystopia describes a society in which everything looks superficially harmonious, but behind this glossy cover lies a terrible world of suffering and deprivation, created by the ruling government, which is aggressive towards people, and the protagonist contrasts himself with the regime.
Dystopian events occur either in the near future or in an alternative world. Therefore, such fiction is often referred to the genre of social science fiction. It reflects humanity’s fears of the future, of tyranny or destructive ideas. And quite often it happened that the classical anti-utopias were prophetic. Even some modern problems were predicted in the earliest dystopias of the 18th century.
Classics of the genre
As the dystopian genre finally formed in the middle of the 17th century in England - the first novel of this genre is Leviathan, a book by the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who likened the state to a biblical monster and described the emergence of a state where people voluntarily give up natural rights and freedoms, giving them power government. After publication in 1651, the work of Hobbes was banned, and each copy was subject to burning.
Fortunately, the work of Hobbes has survived to the present day, although the translation into Russian already in 1868 ended with another prohibition of the work and prosecution of the publisher.
Another "founder" of the genre is Voltaire, who published his novel "Candide" in 1759. This book was awaited by no less trials than Leviathan - instantly becoming a bestseller in many European countries, Voltaire's work was consistently banned in them for many years. Disguised as an ironic novel, a cynical social satire served as a role model for Pushkin and Dostoevsky.
Anti-utopias of Russian-speaking authors
1. "It is difficult to be a god" - a fantastic novel written by the Strugatsky brothers in 1963. The events of the book take place in our cosmic future. Earthlings found the inhabited planet Arkanar, the development of which corresponds to the late Middle Ages, and the inhabitants are almost indistinguishable from humans. Agents of the Institute of Experimental History are introduced into all spheres of life on an alien planet, and with their level of technology they could have organized large-scale wars and monstrous disasters, but this is prohibited, moreover, the moral of the earthling of the 22 century does not allow the killing of a rational creature.
The protagonist of the book is Anton, traveling through the Arkanar kingdom under the guise of an aristocrat. He is waiting for love and incredible adventures. He is trying to turn the story of this almost bloodless local strife planet on the right track, but its capabilities are extremely limited. Observing society, Anton understands that any coup will leave everything in its place - the most arrogant will be at the top, destroying the current masters, and will also oppress the common people.
2. "Moscow 2042" is the socio-political satire of Vladimir Voinovich, written by him in 1986. Shortly before his death, the writer admitted that he ridiculed the trends of society, wrote about the future, which he hoped would never come. And with horror he realizes that he turned out to be a prophet in many ways, but he could not foresee all the "stupidity and vulgarity that have become signs of the times today, the publication of stupid laws." Everything that democracy has turned for Russia, Voinovich believes, surpasses any satire in its monstrous absurdity.
The main character of Voinovich is the Soviet dissident Kartsev, who was deprived of a party ticket and sent to Germany. There he found a travel agency that could send a client back or forward in time, and went to Moscow of the future to find out what happened to the Soviet Union. He discovers that communism was built by 2042 - but within the only city, Moscow.
The rest of the state is divided into “rings of communism” (with different social status of the inhabitants of the “rings”), which ensure the prosperity of the Moscow Communist Republic (Moskorepa), which is fenced off from the whole world with a six-meter-high fence bristled with automatic weapons. The world is spelled out in detail and distinctly, filled with cynical and cruel stupidities, many of which, unfortunately, were embodied in modern Russia.
3. "We" is a fantastic dystopia written in 1920 by Russian prose writer Yevgeny Zamyatin. Few people know that the famous dystopian novels “1984” by J. Orwell and “Oh Brave New World” by Huxley are practically just variations of Zamyatin’s work.
“We” is a description of the state created in the form of a personal diary of the protagonist, in which strict totalitarian control over people is exercised. Everything is regulated here, including intimate life. There are no personalities, just like names - all citizens are called numbers, in fact, assigning numbers to them. People are deprived of the right to decide something on their own or to differ from each other, live in houses with glass walls. The United State is governed by the Benefactor, and everything is subordinated to one goal - the glorification of his exploits and merits in achieving personal happiness of citizens.
4. "We live here" - the anti-utopian dilogy of the famous Kharkovites Ladyzhensky and Gromov, writing under the common pseudonym Oldie, created in collaboration with Andrei Valentinov (pseudonym A. Shmalko) in 1998.
The idea of the book is that the Apocalypse took place, but people did not notice it, continuing to live with their everyday problems, not noticing strange changes. Here you need to light the gas by praying the icon of a certain saint and offering a piece of bun to the house, there are peculiar centaurs, half-people, half-motorcycles, here officials elevate themselves to the rank of saints, and the mafioso even decided to become a god. And he has everything so that the venture succeeds. And almost no one remembers how it was "before." Prior to that major technological disaster at NIIPRIM, which plunged some zones on the planet into obscurantism hell.
The action takes place ten years after the disaster. Agents of a large and powerful world organization illegally work in the city, trying to find the so-called Legate - a person who can essentially create worlds. Panchenko, the leader of crime, believes that he is talking about him and is trying to transform himself into a god in order to dictate his conditions to the whole world. But he is mistaken, the real Legate is Oleg Zalessky, for the time being not even suspecting his gift. And a sense of justice is not at all alien to him …
Of course, this is far from all the dystopias that appeared in the great Russian literature. One can recall for a long time no less interesting and diverse books - “Laz” by Makanin (1991), “The Refuser” by Kabakov (1989), “Disguise” by Aleshkovsky (1980). And even Nosova's “Dunno on the Moon” is a distinct anti-utopia that meets all the canons of the genre.
