#188 Thoughts can be punished: Kallocain (1940) by Karin Boye

Can hope exist in a scientific city of total suspicion?

This episode is a look at Kallocain, the final novel by the Swedish poet and and writer Karin Boye, which was published in 1940. Although little known and not available in English until 1966, this bleak book should be recognised more widely as a key example of 20th century dystopian fiction. Set in a repressive state inspired by Boye's visits to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Kallocain focuses on a powerful truth drug, with the potential to help the state lay siege to our most private thoughts - and to stamp out that last bastion of freedom.

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