Many a tale of dread: the dystopian interface of totalitarianism and colonial imperialism in the Númenor Narratives of J.R.R. Tolkien

Abstract

Utopian literature is a literature of interfaces, as it is a discursive space in which countless modes and genres meet and converse. Utopia’s shadow, dystopia, is ‘a lens through which we filter historical reality’, and dystopian discourses have enabled productive and critical scrutiny of the excesses of modern history, although their role in perceiving the interconnectedness of political enormities is still developing. This article utilises dystopia as an interface for comparing the speculative representation of oppressive and destructive political actions in the form of totalitarianism and imperialist colonial policy.