Two figurations of the noble lie in dystopian literature: we and kallocain

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2586145_(Table of contents)

The goal of this thesis is to scrutinize whether Plato’s noble lie, which one can find in the III Book of the Republic, is a recurring narrative framework in later utopian/dystopian works of literature. While criticizing the ideology that Greek mythological sources, most notably Hesiod and Homer, actualized, Plato adopted a similar method/theory to keep the state stable through concept noble lie that at the same time functions as a means of social control. I come to suggest that Plato develops an artificial/fictional ideological truth regarding the genealogy of the state by combining old mythic structures. Through a selective survey, I specify that there may exist a general outline regarding how the main political narrative is modeled in utopian works and I question the possibility of analogous ideological patterns among the books. Although one can rightly assert that many dystopian works utilize a founding/creation myth/narrative, I opted for Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We and Karin Boye’s Kallocain for the following reasons. Initially, when compared with books such as Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451, one finds fewer studies that are limited in scope on both works, which are especially examined from a different ‘angle’. Secondly, both books not only meet the criteria for a successful dystopia but also better correspond to the primary narrative that Plato presented through the noble lie. For instance, while We appropriates the same class of guardians as one can come across in the Republic, possessing identical roles in the division of labour, the psychologist in Kallocain follows the steps of Platonic Socrates who delivers the method he is going to use for generating a falsehood, in stages.