Global Dystopias

by Junot Díaz (Editor)

Overview

This collection of new fiction, essays, and interviews—including celebrated authors Margaret Atwood, China Miéville, Maureen McHugh, and Charlie Jane Anders—conjures visions of political, environmental, and gender dystopias. Some stretch the imagination; others feel uncomfortably possible. Such stories look toward the future, but they also offer readers a new perspective on the crises of our time.

In the era of Trump, resurgent populism, catastrophic inequality, and climate change, this collection raises vital questions about political and civic responsibility. If we have, as Junot Díaz says, reached peak dystopia, then Global Dystopias might just be the handbook we need to weather the storm.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781946511041
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	10/27/2017
Series:	Boston Review / Forum , #4
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Junot Díaz is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and the short story collections Drown and This Is How You Lose Her. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Story, and Best American Short Stories. Associate Professor in the Writing and Humanistic Studies Program at MIT, he is fiction editor of Boston Review.

Junot Díaz is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and the short story collections Drown and This Is How You Lose Her. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Story, and Best American Short Stories. Associate Professor in the Writing and Humanistic Studies Program at MIT, he is fiction editor of Boston Review.

Junot Díaz is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and the short story collections Drown and This Is How You Lose Her. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Story, and Best American Short Stories. Associate Professor in the Writing and Humanistic Studies Program at MIT, he is fiction editor of Boston Review.

Table of Contents

Adrienne Bernhard, Sumudu Samarawickrama, Charlie Jane Anders, Thea Costantino, Jordy Rosenberg, Maria Dahvana Headley, JR Fenn, Tananarive Due, Mike McClelland, Maureen McHugh, Nalo Hopkinson, Margaret Atwood, Peter Ross, Henry Farrell, China Miéville, Mark Bould

Editorial Reviews

12/04/2017
Edited by Pulitzer-winner Díaz, this uneven anthology confuses the difference between a dystopia and an apocalyptic event while exploring alarming possible futures. Deep currents of misogyny run through much of the collection, as female characters are murdered, tortured, sexually assaulted, and infantilized with few consequences for the men who perpetrate these outrages. Many of the actual dystopias include skewed ideas about what constitutes acceptable womanhood, pregnancy, and birth. Fortunately, some of the best contributions, many of them by women, include nuanced examinations of gender-based oppression. In Charlie Jane Anders’s astoundingly good “Don’t Press Charges and I Won’t Sue,” the narrator is forced by the government into a body she doesn’t want and didn’t ask for. Maria Dahvana Headley’s “Memoirs of an Imaginary Country” explores the connection between the colonization of women’s bodies and colonization of non-Western countries. Tananarive Due’s “The Reformatory” reveals a single moment of horrific abuse in a young black boy’s difficult life. Maureen McHugh’s “Cannibal Acts” and Nalo Hopkinson’s “Waving at Trains” are both excellent stories of viral apocalypses and their aftermath. Despite these standout works, the frequent shifts in tone and quality will make it hard for this anthology to find an audience. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Some of the best contributions, many of them by women, include nuanced examinations of gender-based oppression. In Charlie Jane Anders's astoundingly good “Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue,” the narrator is forced by the government into a body she doesn't want and didn't ask for. Maria Dahvana Headley's “Memoirs of an Imaginary Country” explores the connection between the colonization of women's bodies and colonization of non-Western countries. Tananarive Due's “The Reformatory” reveals a single moment of horrific abuse in a young black boy's difficult life. Maureen McHugh's “Cannibal Acts” and Nalo Hopkinson's “Waving at Trains” are both excellent stories of viral apocalypses and their aftermath.—Publishers Weekly—

From the Publisher

Some of the best contributions, many of them by women, include nuanced examinations of gender-based oppression. In Charlie Jane Anders's astoundingly good “Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue,” the narrator is forced by the government into a body she doesn't want and didn't ask for. Maria Dahvana Headley's “Memoirs of an Imaginary Country” explores the connection between the colonization of women's bodies and colonization of non-Western countries. Tananarive Due's “The Reformatory” reveals a single moment of horrific abuse in a young black boy's difficult life. Maureen McHugh's “Cannibal Acts” and Nalo Hopkinson's “Waving at Trains” are both excellent stories of viral apocalypses and their aftermath.

—Publishers Weekly

Reviews