Children's Literature in Education

, Volume 38, Issue 2, pp 127–139 | Cite as

Dystopian Visions of Global Capitalism: Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines and M.T Anderson’s Feed

Article
First Online:

Abstract

This article examines Philip Reeve’s novel for children, Mortal Engines, and M.T. Anderson’s young adult novel, Feed, by assessing these dystopias as prototypical texts of what Ulrich Beck calls risk society. Through their visions of a fictional future, the two narratives explore the hazards created by contemporary techno-economic progress, predatory global politics and capitalist excesses of consumption. They implicitly pose the question: “In the absence of a happy ending for western civilisation, what kind of children can survive in dystopia?”

Keywords

Children’s literature Dystopias Risk Capitalism 
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References

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.c/o Fac. ArtsDeakin UniversityBurwoodAustralia

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