Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Distopia: Fragmentos de um Céu Límpido

2017; Penn State University Press; Volume: 28; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5325/utopianstudies.28.3.0695

2154-9648

Jaqueline Pierazzo,

Psychology and Mental Health

Tom Moylan's Scraps of the Untainted Sky: Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia was first published in the year 2000. Seventeen years later, this work still enlightens discussions and catches the attention of both science fiction and Utopian studies. Still, we have to acknowledge the fact that we are facing a belated translation. This could easily be a problem if the present edition had not provided a new perspective on Moylan's Scraps. This edition, brought together by the Brazilian research group “Literature and Utopia,” not only shows the contemporaneity of Tom Moylan's insights but also sheds new light on the original book thanks to the introduction by Ildney Cavalcanti and Felipe Benicio, “Reflections” by Elton Furlanetto, and the preface by Moylan himself. Even the translator's note helps to bring the book into the context of contemporary society.Cavalcanti and Benicio's edition encompasses the translation of the second part of Tom Moylan's book, “Dystopia.” The other two parts that were left behind are “Part One: Science Fiction and Utopia” and “Part Three: Dystopian Maneuvers.” The first one, as the title already indicates, concerns itself with concepts and academic studies regarding Utopia and science fiction. In its turn, the third and last part involves a more practical approach to the concepts developed in the previous chapters with the analysis of works by Kim Stanley Robinson, Octavia Butler, and Marge Piercy. The part highlighted by Distopia: Fragmentos de um Céu Límpido deals with the concept of critical dystopia through the consideration of works such as the short story “The Machine Stops” and the novels Brave New World, 1984, and We.The choice of disjointing Tom Moylan's original book and the option to give priority to the part about dystopia are explained in the introduction. Regarding the exclusion of the first part, the editors claim that there are already a substantial number of publications both internationally and in the Brazilian academic context regarding Utopia and science fiction but not as much about dystopias. On the other hand, in regard to the third part of Scraps, the explanation relies on the fact that the books analyzed by Moylan are unknown to the majority of Brazilian readers since they were never translated into Portuguese. In spite of the compelling justifications, one feels that something is missing, that this should be (and in a certain way it is) part of something bigger, of a project that will include not only the two missing parts of Tom Moylan's original book but also a series of translations regarding the works analyzed by Moylan and other dystopic novels and stories. Indeed, bearing Brazil's current social and political context in mind, now seems to be the perfect time to explore (critical) dystopias as a way to reflect upon and understand our present reality in order to think of a better future. Nonetheless, the edition does not ignore the other two parts of Moylan's Scraps; rather, it maintains the unity of the original book. Thus, even if only the second part is emphasized, the rest of the work is still present in the texts that complement the translation.Since Tom Moylan's book has already been reviewed and studied for the past seventeen years, this review will focus on the novelties brought by the Brazilian edition: the preface, “Reflections,” and the translator's note. We will start with Moylan's preface since it seems to be the biggest contribution of this edition to Utopian studies and even to Moylan's own works.Moylan's preface acts in a similar way as his 2014 edition of Demand the Impossible: Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination, which not only brought back the discussions that appeared in the first publication but also shed new light on them through a new introduction penned by the author. In the same way, his preface to the Brazilian edition of Scraps not only brings back the topics discussed in the book, this time in a different context—for a different readership and a different culture—but also enlightens and even corrects some assumptions that have been made about the book since it first appeared in the year 2000.More than merely summarize and explain the book, Moylan uses the preface to emphasize points that he finds important, to defend himself and the book from the critiques they received when Scraps first appeared, and to correct misinterpretations of his thoughts. In this sense, the preface not only contextualizes the book within the framework of Moylan's works but also refurbishes it, bringing Scraps into the present Utopian studies context.The second noteworthy contribution of this edition, Elton Furlanetto's “Reflections,” is especially relevant in the scope of Brazilian Utopian studies, inasmuch as it gives the background of both Scraps and Tom Moylan's studies. Furlanetto's text gives unity to the edition, providing a general view of the original book, especially of its first part. By doing so, “Reflections” provides the reader with basic but precise information regarding the parts that were cut from this edition and functions as an introduction to Moylan's thought. In short, Furlanetto not only situates the reader within the general context of Moylan's life and works but also provides a summary of the translated book, introducing the critic to the Brazilian public.Finally, the translator's note is worth highlighting since it not only enlightens the reader about the solutions chosen by the translators regarding linguistic differences between the English and the Portuguese languages but also establishes an ideological point. Here, the translators touch on a very sensible theme whose discussion has been increasingly growing within linguistics and gender studies throughout the Portuguese-speaking community: the Portuguese language's option for the masculine gender with regard to nouns that, for instance, do not have any specific gender in English. This situation is acknowledged right in the beginning of the translator's note, where the translators, all male, explain to the reader the solution they found for this problem: the use of both female and male nouns and adjectives. As noble as the idea may be, by the end of the first chapter the reader is already tired of the repetition of words just to englobe both the female and the male readership or, for instance, to encompass the uncertainty regarding the gender of the narrator of “The Machine Stops.” Nevertheless, the fact that the translators chose to take a stand and to do something about one of the main concerns within Brazilian gender and linguistic studies is praiseworthy.The edition could, however, benefit from more rigorous revision to solve minor problems regarding punctuation and some typographical errors, the biggest one being the change of the publication date of The Time Machine, referred to in the book as published in 1985 instead of 1895. We all know the incredible dystopian potential that a simple inversion of numbers can represent since George Orwell named his book 1984 to conversely reflect the year of its writing, but in this case, an inversion of numbers that changes not only the year but also the century could have undesirable effects. Nevertheless, these minor and sporadic issues do not outshine the importance of the book and the amazing work that has been done by the editors and the “Literature and Utopia” group regarding, but not limited to, the scope of Brazilian Utopian studies.The importance of this edition is emphasized by the lack of translations of the works mentioned by Tom Moylan, a fact that is insistently recalled both by the introduction and in Furlanetto's “Reflections.” In this scenario, a book such as Distopia: Fragmentos de um Céu Límpido is essential to provide theoretical instruments for the improvement of Brazilian Utopian studies.Moreover, the choice of this particular part of Tom Moylan's Scraps transcends the academic frontier and proves to be helpful in other aspects of Brazilian society. Having in mind Moylan's political engagement, it would be irresponsible to neglect the clear effects that an edition such as this can achieve within Brazil's current situation. The works Moylan chooses to analyze, the analyses themselves, and the works of other critics he mentions—all of this establishes a sharp and very real dialogue with our present-day reality and even more with Brazilian reality. For instance, the feeling Moylan describes through Gaylord LeRoy's words not only sums up what some readers of Orwell and Huxley may feel but also speaks to a huge number of Brazilians, and even Americans, in the face of their current political situation: the feeling of impotence in the face of the current crisis (45). In this context, it is more important than ever to read and think about critical dystopias not only to understand the current situation of society but also to learn how to avoid this situation getting even worse. Now, more than ever, Brazil needs works like Distopia: Fragmentos de um Céu Límpido. Now, more than ever, Brazil needs Utopia.