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 *

Kallocain

    Product form

    A Paperback / softback by Karin Boye, David McDuff

    £8.99

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    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Tue 29 Sep 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher Penguin Random House Group
      Imprint Penguin Classics
      Published 6 June 2023
      ISBN-13 9780241608302
      978-0241608302
      ISBN-10 0241608309
      Also in:
      Fiction Contemporary Fiction Science Fiction Sci-Fi

      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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