The Disturbingly Prophetic Prescience of Four 20th Century Novels
In 1516, Sir Thomas More published Utopia, a satire of an “ideal” society. The term, coined from Greek, means “no place.” In contrast to such “ideal” societies, dystopian novels first appeared in the early 20th century. In general, these arise from an author’s imaginative response to the question, “If this goes on, what will happen?” Four such novels have answered in various ways.
The Novels
G. K. Chesterton’s The Flying Inn (1914) asks, “What if the erosion of traditional English society continues?” In answer, the novel offers a satirical look at those traditions through the machinations of a megalomaniacal...
is a retired secondary teacher of English and philosophy. For forty years he challenged students to dive deep into the classics of the Western canon, to think and write analytically, and to find the cultural constants reflected throughout that literature, art, and thought.
Get Salvo in your inbox! This article originally appeared in Salvo, Issue #72, Spring 2025 Copyright © 2025 Salvo | www.salvomag.com https://salvomag.com/article/salvo72/once-upon-a-nightmare
