Duelling Dystopias
Two weekends ago, Laurie and I attended a fundraiser for a local women's shelter. The featured speaker was none other than the most prominent Canadian novelist, Margaret Atwood. In her presentation, Atwood revealed a passionate concern for the state of humanity, an endearing wry and self-depricating wit, and an inability to type. Our local literary giant, Alice Munro, introduced Atwood, and revealed Margaret's secret talent for making delicious rhubarb pie.
I'm currently reading Atwood's latest, Onyx and Crake, her second dystopian novel.
While The Handmaid's Tale portrays a future society in North America where a fundamentalist theocracy subjugates women taliban-style, Ornx and Crake presents the more familiar post-apocalyptic vision of extreme social inequality, environmental degredation, and genetic tinkering run amok.
The most famous dystopian novel of all time has to be George Orwell's 1984 (Not to be confused with the Van Halen album of the same name--although Van Halen is a sort of dystopian vision of music). I first read it at age 14, spurred on by the literary and mass media frezy at the time of finding parallels between what Orwell envisioned and what was reality at that time.
What dystopian novel do you think most closely parallels reality as we know it in 2005?
What do you fear the future holds in store for us?
Here are a few plot ideas I have for aspiring dystopian novellists. Feel free to take them as your own, but send some royalties my way:
1. Teens, unsatisfied with tongue piercings and tatoos, delve into genetic body modifications and "personal parasites"; lampreys, leeches, etc. in an effort to shock their parents. Those who wish to be "hung like a horse" can find scientists only too happy to prepare gene splicings to accomodate them.
2. Canadians, fearing America's insatiable appetite for their vast national resources, begin a subtle campaign of infiltration into American culture. They bring hockey to the American Southwest, send their top comedians to Hollywood, and lace Tim Horton's donuts with an addictive ingredient supplied by the Elsinore brewery.
3. The mainstream media, controlled by multinational corporations, dumbs down broadcasting to such a degree that human beings are entranced by Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, enthralled by Ben Mulrooney, and captivated by NASCAR.
I'm currently reading Atwood's latest, Onyx and Crake, her second dystopian novel.
While The Handmaid's Tale portrays a future society in North America where a fundamentalist theocracy subjugates women taliban-style, Ornx and Crake presents the more familiar post-apocalyptic vision of extreme social inequality, environmental degredation, and genetic tinkering run amok.
The most famous dystopian novel of all time has to be George Orwell's 1984 (Not to be confused with the Van Halen album of the same name--although Van Halen is a sort of dystopian vision of music). I first read it at age 14, spurred on by the literary and mass media frezy at the time of finding parallels between what Orwell envisioned and what was reality at that time.
What dystopian novel do you think most closely parallels reality as we know it in 2005?
What do you fear the future holds in store for us?
Here are a few plot ideas I have for aspiring dystopian novellists. Feel free to take them as your own, but send some royalties my way:
1. Teens, unsatisfied with tongue piercings and tatoos, delve into genetic body modifications and "personal parasites"; lampreys, leeches, etc. in an effort to shock their parents. Those who wish to be "hung like a horse" can find scientists only too happy to prepare gene splicings to accomodate them.
2. Canadians, fearing America's insatiable appetite for their vast national resources, begin a subtle campaign of infiltration into American culture. They bring hockey to the American Southwest, send their top comedians to Hollywood, and lace Tim Horton's donuts with an addictive ingredient supplied by the Elsinore brewery.
3. The mainstream media, controlled by multinational corporations, dumbs down broadcasting to such a degree that human beings are entranced by Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, enthralled by Ben Mulrooney, and captivated by NASCAR.
