Reminiscences of the Future in the Past

a historical analysis of hypothetical futures in dystopias and classic science fictions of the 20th century

Abstract

The following article addresses historical questions over the twentieth century, through an analysis of speculative fictions published in this century. In that way, it’s approached a more specific definition of this literary genre, done by a dialogue with sci-fi literary works and classic dystopias from the past century. With the support of elements from Theory of History, we try to analyze the past through the lens of authors as Margaret Atwood, Ursula Le Guin, Anthony Burgess, which imagined and transcribed about a future or realities who are, at the same time, close and far away from their time. Therefore, the summary objective of the paper is to try to comprehend social and cultural questions of the Past, within the image of feasible Futures, products of their own time.