The temporal displacement of utopia and dystopia in feminist speculative fiction
The temporal displacement of utopia and dystopia in feminist speculative fiction

Summary/Abstract: Feminist speculative fiction authors make frequent use of the defamiliarized context of utopian and dystopian worlds in order to explore various gender-related issues. The article discusses the use of the temporal dimension of the setting of these texts. The choice of a futuristic setting and correlating it with either utopia or dystopia helps authors to interrogate the present, as it allows not only for extrapolation regarding the future, but also for an assessment of the extratextual present from an imagined historical perspective. It creates a narrative space for comparing and contrasting different social realities, with time serving as a lens which facilitates this analysis. Such a narrative choice creates the desired effect of defamiliarization, enhancing the reader’s cognition and, consequently, raising an awareness regarding issues which are central to feminist philosophy and relevant to the contemporary social situation of women.

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