Contemporary Dystopian Fiction for Young Adults: Brave New Teenagers ed. by Balaka Basu, Katherine R. Broad, Carrie Hintz (review)

In recent years, dystopian narrative has blossomed from a somewhat timid bud to a full-grown branch of young adult literature. There is no denying that the issue of the imminent future is of the utmost importance to young people, as evidenced by their choices of what kinds of novels to buy, read, and contemplate on. However, one might get a nervous feeling once the dominant schema of these narratives is exposed. The leading trend in contemporary YA novels has taken a dystopian turn with the future full of fears, problems, struggles, and injustices—all of which might be said to have their origins in the present time. In this respect, YA dystopias offer not only a glimpse into the future but also a good view on the state of contemporary culture and society. Moreover, the complexity of the field makes it possible to generate in-depth discussions on the implications and challenges of the genre.

A book that aims to go beyond the mere surface of YA dystopias is Contemporary Dystopian Fiction for Young Adults: Brave New Teenagers, edited in 2013 by Balaka Basu, Katherine R. Broad, and Carrie Hintz. By offering an extensive collection of critical essays on the most popular YA dystopian novels to date, the authors of the book fulfill their main goal, which is to “enable a prismatic understanding of the genre as a political, cultural, and aesthetic phenomenon” (9).

The book comprises four main units, each divided into three chapters. The main parts are as follows: part I is “Freedom and Constraint: Adolescent Liberty and Self-Determination,” which examines the notion of freedom and autonomy in the light of the limitations imposed by place, character, or class; part II is “Society and Environment: Building a Better World,” which tackles the issue of the degradation of natural environment and the interconnectedness of this problem with the young people’s growing self-awareness and their outlook on nature; part III is “Radical or Conservative? Polemics of the Future,” which seeks to reconcile the “big themes” of race or technology with the emerging literary framework of YA dystopian fiction; and finally, part IV is “Biotechnologies of the Self: Humanity in a Posthuman Age,” which extrapolates on the forthcoming post- and trans-humanist worlds with special emphasis on bio-ethics and questions of identity and self-knowledge.

While I mostly enjoyed the content and ideas behind each of the above-mentioned parts, it seems that the topic of liberty, indeed to some degree the chief characteristic of all YA dystopias, could have been enriched with an overview of freedom as a cultural idea. As dystopias take place in diametrically different societies, cultural notions like freedom acquire new facets while abandoning others. A delineation of “purely dys-topian” freedom might have been interesting.

Nevertheless, with such a wide array of topics on display, there was a danger that this scholarly endeavor might collapse under its own weight or that it could favour some chapters or perspectives over the others, thus creating a dissonant feeling of the whole. Neither of these things ring true in this case. At no point does the reader feel overwhelmed by the information or analyses, and each chapter reads well as a stand-alone article. In this respect, I feel that the book proves itself to be pragmatic and well-adjusted to the demands of a common reader. On the other hand, the editors skillfully introduce some dialectic discussion, which highlights even more the ideas presented. As the genre is in constant flux, to curb it into generalizations and norms would be to miss the point.

On the whole, the authors seem to balance on the thin line that separates a scholar who simply lays down ideas and a scholar who assumes a commanding voice as a writer. In my view, the book succeeds...