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Despite its popularity, the newest wave of dystopian narratives is often viewed as derivative and deficient. This collection proposes a different, more nuanced viewpoint, arguing that contemporary dystopian fiction changes and updates genre conventions to tackle controversial and contemporary issues in complex ways, such as environmental destruction (Julie Bertagna´s ´Exodus´ (2002), Sacci Lloyd´s ´The Carbon Diaries: 2015/2017´ (2009, 2010), Julianna Baggott´s ´Pure´ (2012)), the effects of bio-technological progress gone awry (Lauren DeStefano´s ´Chemical Garden´ trilogy (2011-2013), Karen Sandler´s ´Tankborn´ (2011)), or the consequences of war (Lauren Oliver´s ´Delirium´ (2011)). While the volume´s first part collects essays that approach dystopia from a literary and cultural studies perspective, the second part explores the potential that texts such as Veronica Roth´s ´Divergent´ (2011), Suzanne Collin´s ´The Hunger Games´ (2008) or David Macaulay´s graphic novel ´BAA´ (1985) have for the EFL classroom.

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