Death

Theories, categorizations, and representations of death encompass medicine, biotechnologies, psychology, ethics and metaphysics, religion, and the law. In utopia as a genre, the end of life is at the intersection between the givenness of reality and the openness of an imagined elsewhere where human beings can be perfected. However, perfectibility clashes with ontological finitude. As the vision of an alternative society cannot overcome the finite nature of human life, utopian thinkers seek to mitigate, neutralize, or ignore the human limit par excellence. Knowing that death cannot be eluded, they seek to neutralize its inevitability. While finitude poses an insuperable challenge, institutionalized death is questioned, fear is rationalized, and mourning is regulated. Death in utopia generates a sustained reflection on end-of-life decisions and codification of funerary practices. The Palgrave Handbook of Utopian and Dystopian Literatures celebrates a literary genre already over 500 years old. Specially commissioned essays from established and emerging international scholars reflect the vibrancy of utopian vision, and its resiliency as idea, genre, and critical mode. Covering politics, environment, geography, body and mind, and social organization, the volume surveys current research and maps new areas of study. The chapters include investigations of anarchism, biopolitics, and postcolonialism and study film, art, and literature. Each essay considers central questions and key primary works, evaluates the most recent research, and outlines contemporary debates. Literatures of Africa, Australia, China, Latin America, and the Middle East are discussed in this global, cross-disciplinary, and comprehensive volume