National Identity in Dystopia and Meta-Dystopia: A Comparison of Smith’s Dream by Carl Stead and Kys’ by Tatyana Tolstaya

Abstract

In this thesis, two dystopian novels, one written by the New Zealand author Carl Stead and the other by Russian writer Tatyana Tolstaya, have been analysed in comparison to each other as well as to the earlier classical examples of dystopian genre such as those by Zamyatin, Orwell, Huxley and Bradbury. The aim of the thesis is to examine how two contemporary authors of different national backgrounds contribute to the creation of national identities for their home countries and what these national identities appear to be. As both works, Smith’s Dream by Stead and Kys’ by Tolstaya, are in the same genre of dystopia, part of this project is to consider which patterns they employ from earlier dystopian novels, what stands behind their choice and, lastly, how far and how effectively the genre has been developed in their novels. In the first chapter, the main issues and general characteristics of dystopian novels are identified and described, based on both classical and modern examples of dystopia and on the work of theorists such as Krishan Kumar, M. Keith Booker, Gregory Claeys and Walter L. Fogg. The second chapter focuses on the theme of national identity, which is not found in earlier dystopian novels, but is developed in both Stead’s and Tolstaya’s dystopias. In Smith’s Dream, the national character combines the features of John Mulgan’s man alone type with a passionless New Zealander. In Tolstaya’s Kys’, the protagonist represents a verbal construct shifting the masks of the superfluous man and the Soviet man. Finally, the third chapter looks into how postmodernism changes dystopia. The term meta-dystopia is proposed as an alternative to Western postmodernism, as it emphasises the close connection between dystopia and meta-utopia as well as highlighting the dystopian characteristics of Western, and particularly New Zealand, national identity. Stead’s Smith’s Dream is approached as an example of Western modern dystopia within the realist tradition, while Tolstaya’s Kys’ is discussed as both an example of Russian meta-utopian writing, and as an example of Western meta-dystopia.