When Science Fiction Writers Used Fictional Drugs
Rise and Fall of the Twentieth-Century Drug Dystopia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6011977 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Hickman (0000-0001-9447-7261, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 141-170 |
| Publication date | 2009-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Utopian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1045-991X • E-ISSN: 2154-9648 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/20719933 |
| OpenAlex | W4302422904 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 15 |
This article compares seven novels published from 1932 to 1980 which are set in drug dystopias (near future societies where pharmacology produces or reinforces a dystopian social order) in order to answer two questions. What are the effects and symbolic meanings of the fictional drugs they describe? Why are there so few examples of this subgenre? Today, their warnings about the reduction of populations to docility or of assaults on the integrity of individual minds seem overwrought, and the apparent passing of the subgenre need not be mourned. Two of the seven novels, however, Brave New World and A Scanner Darkly, continue to be read because they warn against more subtle forms of tyranny
Aesthetics · Art · Dystopia · Fantasy · Literature · Sci-Fi · Sociology · Computer Science · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · History · Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |