''Kallocain'' is a 1940
dystopian novel by
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
novelist
Karin Boye that envisions a future of drab terror. Seen through the eyes of the idealistic scientist Leo Kall, ''Kallocain'' is a depiction of a
totalitarian world state. An important aspect of the novel is the relationships and connections between the various characters, such as the marriage of the main character and his wife, Linda Kall, and the feelings of jealousy and suspicion that may arise in a society with heavy surveillance and legal uncertainty.
One of the novel's central ideas coincides with contemporary rumors of
truth drugs that ensured the subordination of every
citizen
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
to the
state. Both
Aldous Huxley's ''
Brave New World'' (1932) and Boye's ''Kallocain'' are drug dystopias, or societies in which pharmacology is used to suppress opposition to authority. However, unlike ''Brave New World'' in which a drug is used to suppress the urge to nonconformity generally, a drug in ''Kallocain'' is used to detect individual acts and thoughts of rebellion.
''Kallocain'' has been translated into more than 10 languages;
English-language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
translations include those by Gustaf Lannestock (2002, University of Wisconsin Press) and David McDuff (2019, Penguin Classics).
It was adapted into a
television miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
in 1981 by
Hans Abramson.
In 2016, the novel was nominated for the
Retro-Hugo award for the best science fiction novel of 1941.
Plot
The plot centers on Leo Kall and is written in the form of a diary or memoir. Kall lives with his wife, Linda Kall, in a city intended for
chemical industry
The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials (oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products. The ...
. Leo is a scientist, who is initially very loyal to the government and develops the truth drug Kallocain. It has the effect that anyone who takes it will reveal anything, even things of which they were not consciously aware.
Major themes include the notion of the self in a totalitarian state, the
meaning of life
The meaning of life, or the answer to the question: "What is the meaning of life?", pertains to the significance of living or existence in general. Many other related questions include: "Why are we here?", "What is life all about?", or "What ...
, and the power of
love. Another central theme is the criminalization of thoughts. Oneself is not an individual, rather a part of the state. And through the effects of Kallocain, the last sanctuary of self is invaded. Apart from the laboratory work and testing by Leo Kall, much of the novel takes place in the home of Leo and Linda.
References
Further reading
* John Hickman. "When Science Fiction Writers Used Fictional Drugs: Rise and Fall of the Twentieth-Century Drug Dystopia." ''Utopian Studies'' Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 141–170. (2009)
External links
*
*
Full text English translation from the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
{{Authority control
1940 Swedish novels
Dystopian novels
1940 science fiction novels
Swedish science fiction novels
Fictional diaries
Swedish novels adapted into films
Swedish-language novels
Totalitarianism in fiction