Reimagining Ecological Futures: Utopian and Dystopian Visions in English Literature

Author(s)	Mr. Niranjan Lakra, Dr. Disha Bhatt
Country	India
Abstract	The environmental crisis of the twenty-first century has urged writers and thinkers to re-imagine the relationship between humans and nature. English literature, particularly through utopian and dystopian narratives, has become a fertile site for exploring ecological futures visions that oscillate between hope and despair, sustainability and collapse. This paper examines how English literature from the Romantic imagination of harmony to the contemporary Eco-dystopian warnings’ constructs competing ecological futures. Drawing on theorists such as Raymond Williams, Ursula K. Heise, and Timothy Morton, this study analyses the transition from pastoral utopias to ecological dystopias in key literary works. The paper argues that these narratives not only mirror environmental anxieties but also function as imaginative laboratories for ecological ethics and planetary consciousness. By comparing works such as Thomas More’s Utopia (1516), William Morris’s News from Nowhere (1890), Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy (2003–13), and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2006), the study demonstrates how English literature envisions both the catastrophe and potential redemption of the Earth.
Keywords	Ecocriticism, Utopia, Dystopia, Sustainability
Field	Sociology > Linguistic / Literature
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 5, September-October 2025
Published On	2025-10-31
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i05.57849

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