Blog post #8

1. Enhanced Sociability and the Composite Definition of Utopia and Dystopia: Gregory Claeys begins by describing Utopia and Dystopia correlated with each other. To truly understand Dystopia I have to study Utopia also since its the opposite. This article helps me by firstly explaining the four things which people associate utopia with that it is not. Firstly they are not literary tradition. Secondly Utopias are not a branch of Theology. Third Utopias are not states of mind or psychological impulses. Lastly Utopia should not be used as a synonym for Social improvement.

2.When science fiction writers used fictional drugs: rise and fall of the twentieth-century drug dystopia: In many novels such as brave new world, scientifically created drugs are created to keep people in line. This article asks and answers two specific questions about 7 "Drug Dystopias". What are the effects and symbolic meanings of fictional drugs they use and why are there so few examples of this sub-genre.

3. Mind the Gap: Dystopia as fiction: This article speaks about the incompleteness of works and how they affect literary history. Before reading this article i did not know that there was another sub-genre called Eutopia which is similar to Dystopia but has a positive connotation. This also provides some history when it explains that the differentiation between the two was not analyzed until the late nineteenth century.

4. Ideology and Anti-Utopia:  I recently read a dystopia book called brave new world and wanted to see what was written about it and how I can use it for my wiki article. Turns out they tried making a movie out of the book but changed the setting, plot, and characters. Even though the changes were minor the entire perspective of the book changed to a Utopia. This lead to it being called an Anti-Utopia. This article goes on to talk about ideology in dystopias and also what is an Anti-Utopia.

5. Alterity and Alien Contact in Lao She's Martian Dystopia, Cat Country: When writing about dystopias i decided to find a cool novel that I have not read yet to write about. This novel is about a martian dystopia. The article presented asks questions like why did they choose mars and what correlation the red planet has to other novels. This scientific and literary outlook on a new novel could provide interesting points in the wiki article.