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Book Synopsis

A pioneering work of dystopian fiction from one of Sweden''s most acclaimed writers

Written midway between Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four, as the terrible events of the Second World War were unfolding, Kallocain depicts a totalitarian ''World State'' which seeks to crush the individual entirely. In this desolate, paranoid landscape of ''police eyes'' and ''police ears'', the obedient citizen and middle-ranking scientist Leo Kall discovers a drug that will force anyone who takes it to tell the truth. But can private thought really be obliterated? Karin Boye''s chilling novel of creeping alienation shows the dangers of acquiescence and the power of resistance, no matter how futile.

Translated with an introduction by David McDuff



Trade Review
The woman who reimagined the dystopian novel -- Talya Zax * The New Yorker *

Kallocain

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    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Wed 10 Jun 2026.

    A Paperback / softback by Karin Boye, David McDuff

    7 in stock


      View other formats and editions of Kallocain by Karin Boye

      Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
      Publication Date: 06/06/2023
      ISBN13: 9780241608302, 978-0241608302
      ISBN10: 0241608309

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      A pioneering work of dystopian fiction from one of Sweden''s most acclaimed writers

      Written midway between Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four, as the terrible events of the Second World War were unfolding, Kallocain depicts a totalitarian ''World State'' which seeks to crush the individual entirely. In this desolate, paranoid landscape of ''police eyes'' and ''police ears'', the obedient citizen and middle-ranking scientist Leo Kall discovers a drug that will force anyone who takes it to tell the truth. But can private thought really be obliterated? Karin Boye''s chilling novel of creeping alienation shows the dangers of acquiescence and the power of resistance, no matter how futile.

      Translated with an introduction by David McDuff



      Trade Review
      The woman who reimagined the dystopian novel -- Talya Zax * The New Yorker *

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