Dystopia : a natural history : a study of modern despotism, its antecedents, and its literary diffractions

569 Pages·2017·8.13 MB·English

by  Claeys

DYSTOPIA:
A NATURAL HISTORY

Dystopia: A Natural
History
A Study of Modern Despotism,
Its Antecedents, and
Its Literary Diffractions
GREGORY CLAEYS
1
3
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In Memoriam,
–
István Hont (1947 2013)
an abundance of warmth and light

Acknowledgements
ReadersmayrecallOrwell’sobservationthat‘Writingabookisahorrid,exhausting
struggle,likealongboutofsomepainfulillness’(‘WhyIWrite’,1946).Thankfully
I have had some skilled intellectual physicians to help me through the moments
whenIthoughtImightsuccumbtothisone.Inparticular,averyspecialthanksis
due to Artur Blaim, Michael Levin, Lyman Tower Sargent, and Dan Stone, who
madeinvaluablecommentsonpartsofthemanuscriptandhavegreatlyimproved
thefinalversion.IamalsogratefultoAntonisBalasopoulos;MosabBajaber;David
Bradshaw;BrentfordFCanditsfansforhelpingmeseehowthebeautifulgameis
likewarbutsomuchbetter;JustinChampion;JaniceCullen;ZsoltCzigányik;José
Maria Perez Fernandez; Justyna Galant; Diletta Gari; Sam Hirst; Anna Hont;
ThomasHoran;JessieHronesova;MarkJendrysik;MartaKomsta;TomMoylan;
Duncan Kelly; Andrew Milner; the Museum for the Political History of Russia,
St Petersburg; Patrick Parrinder; Mark Preslar; Emine Şentürk; James Somper;
Sandy Stelts at Penn State University Library; Henry Tam; Fátima Vieira; Luisa
Hodgkinson and the interlibrary loan team at Royal Holloway, University
of London; the London Library; the British Library; and the Orwell Archive,
UniversityCollegeLondon,especiallyMandyWise.InCambodiaIamparticularly
grateful to the staff of the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam),
including its director, Youk Chhang, and Deputy Director, Eng Kok-Thay, and
Dalin Lorn; and at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Keo Lundi. Parts of the
argumenthavebeenpresentedatconferencesorseminarsatBudapest,Cambridge,
Durham,Granada,GrandForks,Krakow,Lisbon,London,Montreal,Newcastle,
Oxford,Pittsburgh,Prague,Sewanee,theEuropeanUniversity,StPetersburg,São
Paulo,theUniversityofSussex,andTimişoara.Iamgratefultoaudiencesfortheir
feedback,andespeciallytomembers oftheUtopianStudiesSociety(Europe)and
theSocietyforUtopianStudies(NorthAmerica).ThesupportoftheLeverhulme
Trustwasindispensable.IamthankfultotheSalemPressforpermissiontoreprint
passages from ‘Huxley and Bolshevism’, in M. Keith Booker, ed., Aldous Huxley’s
BraveNewWorld:NewCriticalEssays(SalemPress,2014),pp.91–107.AtOxford
University Press I am grateful to Cathryn Steele and Hollie Thomas. Elizabeth
Stone was an astute and helpful copy-editor. As always, my wife and family have
been supportive and endlessly patient. Finally, thanks to Christopher Duggan,
whoselifewascutshorttragicallybeforethebookwasfinished,fortwentyyearsof
friendshipandencouragement.

Table of Contents
ListofIllustrations xi
PART I. THE THEORY AND PRE-HISTORY
OF DYSTOPIA
1. RethinkingthePoliticalDystopia:TheGroupandtheCrowd 3
Introduction:RethinkingDystopia 3
GroupPsychologyandDystopia 18
2. MonstrosityandtheOriginofDystopianSpace 58
Introduction:TeratologyandDystopia 58
TheKingofDystopia:Satan’sTriumphantMarch 79
PART II. TOTALITARIANISM AND DYSTOPIA
3. TheCaveman’sCentury:TheDevelopmentof
TotalitarianismfromJacobinismtoStalinism 113
Introduction 113
TheConceptofTotalitarianism 114
ThePrototype:YearIIoftheFrenchRevolution
(September1793–July1794) 118
BolshevikTerrorandtheGulagSystem 128
4. TotalitarianismfromHitlertoPolPot 177
NaziGermanyandthe‘FinalSolution’ 177
China 212
‘AbolishEverythingOld’:CambodiaunderPolPot 219
Eradicatingthe‘Other’:ExplainingTotalitarianGenocide 236
PART III. THE LITERARY REVOLT
AGAINST COLLECTIVISM
IntroductiontoPartIII 269
5. Mechanism,Collectivism,andHumanity:TheOrigins
ofDystopianLiterature,1810–1945 273
TheLiteraryDystopia:ProblemsofDefinition 273
FromSatiretoAnti-JacobinDystopiainBritain 291
GreatBritain:SocialDarwinism,Eugenics,Revolution,andMechanical
Civilization,1870–1914 294