Thoughts on the Prophetic Imaginary and Dystopian Hermeneutic

Tom Moylan, Ralahine Centre for Utopian Studies, University of Limerick

tom.moylan(at)ul.ie

Abstract: In this short reflection, I discus the critical and visionary potential of the dystopian mode (understood as the underlying problematic that informs what we know as the dystopian genre). I begin by making a distinction between the anti-utopian tendencies of the apocalyptic imaginary as opposed to the utopian capacity of the prophetic. I then move through a summary of the morphology of the dystopian form, from the biblical jeremiad to the contemporary literary dystopia, critical and otherwise. Finally, I end with a discussion of the critical potential of the dystopian hermeneutic, as it is derived from the operations of the dystopian mode.