Tell Freedom I Said Hello: Issues in Contemporary Young Adult Dystopian Fiction

Despite its popularity, the newest wave of dystopian narratives is often viewed as derivative and deficient. This collection proposes a different, more nuanced viewpoint, arguing that contemporary dystopian fiction changes and updates genre conventions to tackle controversial and contemporary issues in complex ways, such as environmental destruction (Julie Bertagna’s ‘Exodus’ (2002), Sacci Lloyd’s ‘The Carbon Diaries: 2015/2017’ (2009, 2010), Julianna Baggott’s ‘Pure’ (2012)), the effects of bio-technological progress gone awry (Lauren DeStefano’s ‘Chemical Garden’ trilogy (2011-2013), Karen Sandler’s ‘Tankborn’ (2011)), or the consequences of war (Lauren Oliver’s ‘Delirium’ (2011)). While the volume’s first part collects essays that approach dystopia from a literary and cultural studies perspective, the second part explores the potential that texts such as Veronica Roth’s ‘Divergent’ (2011), Suzanne Collin’s ‘The Hunger Games’ (2008) or David Macaulay’s graphic novel ‘BAA’ (1985) have for the EFL classroom.