This book is the first comprehensive study of mainstream British
dystopian fiction and the Cold War. Drawing on over 200 novels and
collections of short stories, the monograph explores the ways in which
dystopian texts charted the lived experiences of the period, offering an
extended analysis of authors' concerns about the geopolitical present
and anxieties about the national future. Amongst the topics addressed
are the processes of Cold War (autocracy, militarism, propaganda,
intelligence, nuclear technologies), the decline of Britain's standing
in global politics and the reduced status of intellectual culture in
Cold War Britain. Although the focus is on dystopianism in the work of
mainstream authors, including George Orwell, Doris Lessing, J.G.
Ballard, Angela Carter and Anthony Burgess, a number of science-fiction
novels are also discussed, making the book relevant to a wide range of
researchers and students of twentieth-century British literature.