DYSTOPIA AND IDENTITY A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF LEILA AS SCIENCE FICTION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v4.i2.2023.6324Keywords:
Dystopia, Identity, Surveillance, Patriarchy, Resistance, Casteism, Science FictionAbstract [English]
Prayaag Akbar's Leila (2017) is a compelling addition to the canon of dystopian literature, weaving science fiction elements with socio-political critique. Set in a near-future India governed by an authoritarian regime, the novel explores themes of identity, surveillance, purity, and resistance. This paper critically examines Leila as a dystopian science fiction text, analyzing how Akbar uses speculative tropes to interrogate casteism, religious intolerance, and patriarchal control. The study positions Leila within the broader tradition of dystopian science fiction while emphasizing its unique engagement with Indian socio-cultural realities.
References
Akbar, Prayaag. Leila. Simon & Schuster India, 2017.
Moylan, Tom. Scraps of the Untainted Sky: Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia. Westview Press, 2000.
Atwood, Margaret. "Writing Utopia." In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination. Anchor, 2011.
Baccolini, Raffaella and Tom Moylan, eds. Dark Horizons: Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imagination. Routledge, 2003.
Kumar, Priya. "The Other Side of the Nation: The Fiction of Dissent in the Writing of Women." Modern Asian Studies, vol. 39, no. 4, 2005, pp. 927–958.
Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Vintage, 1995.
Scott, James C. Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. Yale University Press, 1985.
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