Some New Terms in Dystopian Studies

Abstract

This article brings two terms of political sciences, “state of exception” and “clash of civilizations” to dystopian studies. These terms help us to understand the hybrid nature of the dystopian genre. Almost in every Russian postcommunist dystopia we meet various kinds of state of exception. The concept of “clash of civilizations” convincingly describes many aspects of Slavic-Muslim dialogue in Russian dystopia. Russian military invasion of Ukraine had been predicted in dystopian novels the decades before it happened. The prophetic nature of the dystopian genre dictates the necessity of new analytical tools.

Keywords

• state of exception
• clash of civilizations
• slavic-muslim dialog
• dystopia
• a torn country
• a cleft country
• orwelliam principles