Political concerns in Arab and Western dystopia novels: a comparative study

Abstract

Dystopian literature is considered a mirror that portrays to us human fears and anxieties about the future, thus forming a reference point for discussions about government, public culture, international relations, security, racial discrimination, policing, environmental concerns, and so on. Since literature is dependent on temporal and spatial reasons, any literary product reflects the temporal and spatial reality of the society in which the authors of literary works grow up. From this standpoint, this study attempts to uncover the manifestations of “political fears” in Arab and Western dystopian novels and compare them to each other. The results indicate that Arab novelists talk in their novels about the current reality and its disastrous consequences (if the current reality continues), while Western novelists try to talk about what will happen to humans if tyrannical governments take control. Arab novelists also point out the role played by Western colonialism in the tragic situation that will prevail in the Arab world in the future, and Arab dystopian novels include warnings against Islamic fundamentalism, while their Western counterparts lack them.