The terms utopian fiction and dystopian fiction serve to designate two literary genres where social and political structures are explored. Utopian fiction refers to utopia, a term used to designate an ideal world where everything is perfect. In contrast, dystopian fiction (sometimes known as apocalyptic literature "Apocalyptic (literary genre)") refers to a society that, pretending to be happy, systematically makes its citizens suffer or degrades them to irreversible oblivion. Many novels combine both, often as a metaphor for the options humanity can have to end one of two possible futures. Both utopia and dystopia are common in science fiction or speculative fiction in Literature.

More than four hundred utopian works were published before 1900 in the English language alone, and more than a thousand during the 20th century.[2]​.

Utopian fiction

The word utopia was first used in the direct context of Sir Thomas More in his 1516 work entitled "Utopia (Thomas More)"). In his book, which was written in Latin, More sets out a vision of an ideal society. As the title suggests, the work presents an ambiguous and ironic projection of the ideal State. The whimsical nature of the text can be confirmed by the narrator of the second book of Utopia, Raphael Hythloday. The Greek root for 'Hythloday' suggests an 'expert in nonsense'. An earlier example of a utopian work from classical antiquity is Plato's "The Republic", in which he highlights what he sees as the ideal society and its political system. Later examples can be seen in Samuel Johnson's "The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia" and "Erewhon" by Samuel Butler "Samuel Butler (novelist)"). This, like much utopian literature, can be seen as utopian satire which is most notable in the illness and crime that Butler portrays, with punishment for the former and treatment for the latter.

Dystopian fiction

The word dystopia is defined as a society characterized by a negative focus on societies such as mass poverty, public distrust, the police state, misery, suffering or oppression.[1] Most authors of dystopian fiction explore at least one reason why things are the way they are, often as an analogy for similar issues in the real world. In the words of Keith M. Booker, dystopian literature is used to "provide new perspectives on problematic social and political practices that might otherwise be taken for granted or considered natural and inevitable."[4]​.