Niko LaamanenFounder, Publisher at Konsensus Network

Finding Hope in Dystopia A Unique Journey

7 Feb 2025 · 1 min

0:40

In this brief excerpt from the YouTube video "Finding Hope in Dystopia — A Unique Journey," Speaker A recounts how, during the first UK lockdown, they embarked on an intensive reading marathon of dystopian literature, starting with Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. They shared this literary quest with their father via text, expressing a personal goal to keep reading until the narrative delivers a victory for the protagonists. Speaker B interjects, prompting a reflection on whether the reader can become the architect of a hopeful or "happy" ending in dystopian stories. The conversation references a concept called the "Court of Submissions," described as a space where a "glimmer of hope" is explored, suggesting a meta‑discussion about embedding optimism within traditionally bleak genres.

TranscriptAuto-generated · 1 min

Because I, I text, so me and my dad, we have this wonderful relationship where we can talk about books, right? And, uh, in the, in the first lockdown in the UK, I read every dystopia in the bloody world, right? All the way back to We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. And I text my dad and I just said, I'm trying to, I'm going to keep reading one until the good guys win.
And
he's like, you're going to be reading for a while, you know? But that's interesting because what you're talking about here is Are you going to be the guy that sort of creates the happy ending for dystopia? Because what we wanted— sorry to interrupt you there, but what we talked about in the Court of Submissions was actually that little glimmer of hope, right?