Raj zbudowany na ziemi, czyli koniec utopii i początek antyutopii. Totalitarny paradoks w antyutopii rosyjskiej (Jewgenij Zamiatin, Władymir Wojnowicz, Władymir Sorokin)
Journal Title: Przegląd Wschodni - Year 2014, Vol 13, Issue 49
Abstract
The subject of this article is Russian 20th century literature. The author focusses on three authors belonging to different generations: Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884-1937), Vladimir Voinovich (1932) Vladimir Sorokin (1955). The literary work introduced here presents interesting material for conducting wide-ranging literary and linguistic – and even historical-sociological – research. The problematic approach selected by the author of the following article represents an attempt to grasp one of the most important problems of the subject of anti-utopia, specifically – totalitarianism. Travelling the path of totalitarianism, which represents a compositional axis and conceptual essence, various problems are revealed to do with the transference of dreams and utopian projects from imagination and paper onto the plane of life. Upon examination of the example of the analyzed works, it is clear to see the fragmentation of the ideal, which is overgrown with subsequent structures and machines of control, cultivating anonymous numbers devoid of feelings, willpower or consciousness and glorifying the tormentor – the creator of a quasi-religious system. Juxtaposing the works, written in different periods and various circumstances by the representatives of prosaically distinct currents, allows the perception of similarities and conception of parallels in the anti-utopian discourse. It also demonstrates the historical development of the genre, the evolution of social-cultural problems and the methods of presenting the dangers of totalitarianism and the threat to civilization. The author of the article shows that technological gains and scientific progress create new opportunities for human beings, as well as improving and enhancing their lives, while simultaneously these two factors cause the degradation of personal identity and the cause of various forms of slavery. Nonetheless, whatever the technological-social circumstances, certain human traits seem unchanging; cruelty, ruthlessness, the desire to dominate another, not to mention humiliation, which is unreservedly tied to the concept of power and the craving of its manifestation. Anti-utopian literature, making use of satire, hyperbole and the grotesque, exposes the results of forceful techno-civilizational progress, oppressive consumerism and totalitarianism. It illustrates a picture full of turmoil and the inner tension of enslavement of the individual; misshapen utopian ideas, finalized in an apocalyptic or totalitarian model of reality. At the same time, it reveals individuals that are distinguished by their imagination, a deep desire for freedom, intimacy and independence, traits which the particular system of government was unable to uproot or destroy.
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Katarzyna Sobijanek-Ziętek
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