Dystopia, science fiction, post-apocalypse

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Dystopian and post-apocalyptic narratives, particularly within science fiction, are experiencing significant popularity. The historical backdrop of two world wars, which highlighted the perils of technology, industrialism, and collectivism, laid the groundwork for the classic dystopian imagination of the 20th century. These narratives have evolved to address urgent challenges of the 21st century, including climate change, economic crises, fundamentalist reactions to modernity, the rise of Big Data, and issues surrounding urbanization and migration. This collection of essays serves as an introduction to the field, offering analyses of key texts and exploring visions of crisis and collapse across various media, including prose fiction, films, graphic novels, and video games. Organized into thematic clusters such as totalitarian, biopolitical, and religious dystopias, the handbook presents fresh interpretations of classic works by authors like Wells, Orwell, and Huxley. It also examines contemporary fictions that resonate globally, including Margaret Atwood's eco-dystopias, Ursula K. Le Guin's gendered science fiction, and post-colonial narratives by J. M. Coetzee, alongside notable films like Blade Runner and The Matrix, as well as young adult dystopias like The Hunger Games.