utopian fiction
Perfect-world narratives
Utopian fiction depicts an idealized society where social, political, or technological conditions have been perfected or vastly improved.
The genre explores what human civilization might achieve under optimal circumstances: More's Utopia imagined a society without private property.
Utopian fiction often serves as implicit critique of the author's own time, presenting alternatives to existing injustices.
The opposite impulse produces dystopian fiction.
- idealismBelief in noble principles
- ideal societyImagined perfect community
- perfect worldImagined flawless state
- world-buildingCreating fictional universes
- socialismCommunal economic control
class struggle · egalitarianism · social reform · perfectibility · novel · allegory · alternate history · thought experiment · intentional community · Enlightenment · progressivism · Thomas More · William Morris · transcendentalism · anarchism · humanism · collectivism · golden age
utopian fictiondystopian fiction
Stories depicting terrible futures
dystopia · dystopian literature · anti-utopia · apocalyptic fiction · post-apocalyptic fiction
utopian fictionrealist fiction
Stories portraying plausible events
naturalism · social realism · kitchen sink realism · documentary fiction · nonfiction