On Subversion And Transcendence Of British Utopian Novels From Nineteen Eighty-Four

As a typical dystopian novel, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four occupies a unique and striking position in the development of British Utopian literature. Unlike the traditional Utopian novels, in which the writer depicts an ideal political institution and life style, Nineteen Eighty-Four is naturally the opposite—a creation of a nightmare world where Utopian ideals have been subverted. Therefore, this thesis examines Nineteen Eighty-Four from the background of traditional Utopian novels, to explain in what way Nineteen Eighty-Four has subverted and transcended the British Utopian tradition.After a systematic survey of the classical Utopian novels, this thesis starts with a thorough analysis of the political prophecy seen from Nineteen Eighty-Four. Applying Foucault's theory of power, especially the concept of panopticon, it explores the operations of Oceania as "Island Prison" under totalitarian ruling and analyzes the protagonist, Winston Smith's self-salvation. Then it proceeds to concentrate on the language-power system through Foucault's interpretation of power and discourse. The newly-founded language and power system not only treats language as an instrument for expressing ideas, but also deals with language as power itself. In the end, the artistic creation of Nineteen Eighty-Four will be discussed to distinguish its aesthetic values from those of classical Utopian novels. The thesis also makes some reflections on totalitarianism under the current context, so as to view Nineteen Eighty-Four from a social and historical perspective.Orwell has pursued a combination of artistic and political maturity all his life, and he assumes it is his responsibility to safeguard the spirit of man and social justice. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell succeeds in breaking away from fetters of traditional Utopias and fulfilling the ambition of his own.