Desire and Empathy in Twentieth-Century Dystopian Fiction

Thomas Horan is Associate Professor of English at The Citadel, Charleston, USA. He has previously published articles in a number of journals. He edited Critical Insights: Nineteen Eighty-Four (2016) and is currently editing Critical Insights: Animal Farm.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. The Sexualized Proletariat in Jack London’s The Iron Heel.- 3. Redemptive Atavism in Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We.- 4. The Sexual Life of the Savage in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.- 5. Katherine Burdekin’s Swastika Night, a Gay Romance.- 6. Distortions of Queer Desire in Ayn Rand’s Anthem.- 7. Desire and Empathy in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.- 8. Ludic Perversions and Enduring Communities in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.- 9. Conclusion.