DYSTOPIA AND RETROPIA AS ARTISTIC PARADIGMS IN ALDOUS HUXLEY AND GEORGE ORWELL, A COMPARATIVE APPROACH BETWEEN ALBANIAN AUTHORS AFTER THE 90s
Emine SHABANI, Hamsi BEHLULI
Abstract
The original artistic aesthetics of Orwell's and Huxley's fiction are not accidental. It stems from the imperative of approaching literary art with the modern philosophy of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard that this thesis draws upon, but also the very significant concept of retrospection by sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, which is closely related to Bauman's analysis of modern society and its crisis and uncertainty about the future.
The problem of human existence, of human destiny from birth to death, of the human enigma, of the good and bad aspects of life, and the tragedies and comedies of human life, have been a permanent preoccupation in Huxley's prose. This research paper enriches the critical analysis of Huxley's dystopian fiction. Furthermore, it contributes to the study of extratextual, historical, and psychological factors that have influenced and will continue to influence the creation of a dystopian and totalitarian society.
Albanian authors: Ridvan Dibra, Besnik Mustafaj, Kasem Trebeshina, etc, use retropie as an aesthetic paradigm in their literary works. Creation is a serious job and, especially those of the communist period, have often paid for it with prison or life. Orwell and Huxley, in their novels, compare economic wealth with spiritual poverty, while in Albanian authors, it is reflected through allegory, absurdity, and a deeply anti-totalitarian feeling. Retropie is represented as a means of literary resistance to communist censorship. It is a loss of faith in the future; therefore, it must be analyzed and recondensed conceptually.
Totalitarianism, which is present in both English and Albanian authors, is a terrible, repressive red holocaust, but post-communism is also depressive; the situations of collective drama are described with psychological truth and artistic coherence. This study examines elements of dystopian and retrogressive fiction as well as social problems that are also subjects of examination in the novels. The absurdity forces of life confront man with many either-or situations. Thus, the character must decide whether to distance himself and stop seeing them, playing the role of Hamlet, a humanist who, paralyzed by doubt, is unable to act or react, and pay for it with his life.
Pages: 56 - 60