Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Stockholm : Bonnier, 1983 ;
Description
The classic World War II-era dystopian novel, written at the midpoint between Brave New World and 1984, in its first new translation in more than fifty years A Penguin Classic Leo Kall is a zealous middle-ranking scientist in the totalitarian World State who has just made a thrilling discovery: a new drug, Kallocain, that will force anyone who takes it to tell the truth. At last, criminality will be dragged out into the open and private thought can finally be outlawed. But can the World State be trusted with Kallocain? For that matter, can Kall himself be trusted? Written as the terrible events of World War II were unfolding, Karin Boye's classic dystopian novel speaks more clearly than ever of the dangers of acquiescence and the power of resistance.… (more)
Media reviews
Boye schrijft niet over deze tijd, maar veel uit Kallocaïne is wel toepasbaar op deze tijd. Ik snap hoe voor de collega de verleiding groot is om in toevalligheden te denken. Maar het is wel degelijk een kwaliteit van Kallocaïne en van de schrijfkunst van Karin Boye. Iedereen kan een nachtmerrie
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verzinnen. Maar een mogelijke nachtmerrie is nog iets anders. De schrijfster van Kallocaïne had goed gekeken naar de spoken van haar tijd; spoken die klaarblijkelijk zo onuitroeibaar zijn dat ze ook in andere tijden -in een andere gedaante- weer op konden duiken…lees verder Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
Leo Kall wakes up one morning to read the newspaper and the headlines say "Thoughts Can be Judged." Well, Leo already knows this, having invented a drug which he named after himself: Kallocain. Early in his career as a scientist for the Worldstate, a totalitarian regime, Kall realized that when
However, what he doesn't understand until it's too late is that underneath everyone's allegiance to the Worldstate and their willingness to do their duties to support the state without question, no matter what, that there are many people who dream of something different.
Kallocain is a wonderful book, although at times it is really difficult to slog through probably because of its translation from Swedish. Written in 1940, prior to Orwell's 1984, it is a bleak vision of man's future, in which a person's inner thoughts may be all that he or she has left to identify them as an individual.
I recommend this one to anyone interested in this topic. It's not always an easy read, but well worth it in the end.
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people become intoxicated they tend to spill their guts to total strangers. Working from that idea, he develops Kallocain, and after a few subjects from the Voluntary Sacrificial Service are injected with the drug and questioned as to their loyalty or knowledge of treasonous plots, Kall realizes this drug could be a great weapon in securing the state. Anyone with thoughts judged to be against the state could be put into prison or put to death, eliminate any possible threats. Kall saw himself as climbing a staircase of achievement, and this was how he was planning to get to the next level.However, what he doesn't understand until it's too late is that underneath everyone's allegiance to the Worldstate and their willingness to do their duties to support the state without question, no matter what, that there are many people who dream of something different.
Kallocain is a wonderful book, although at times it is really difficult to slog through probably because of its translation from Swedish. Written in 1940, prior to Orwell's 1984, it is a bleak vision of man's future, in which a person's inner thoughts may be all that he or she has left to identify them as an individual.
I recommend this one to anyone interested in this topic. It's not always an easy read, but well worth it in the end.
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LibraryThing member GingerbreadMan
Karin Boye’s dystopian novel from 1940 is a modern classic in Sweden, and considering my taste for the genre it’s really quite strange I haven’t read it before. Boye’s vision of a nightmarish police state, where regulations, paranoia and propaganda rule people’s life, is pretty
Leo Kall is a chemist and a loyal servant of the World State, and with his invention Kallocain – a dead-sure truth serum, leaving no permanent damage in the subject – he provides the government with a powerful instrument of control. For the first time it’s possible not only to focus on acts, but on intentions and innermost thoughts in the citizens. It’s possible to find out who is really loyal to the core. And who is a doubter, a dreamer, a poser, a traitor. Kallocain is a huge success, and a law that criminalizes thoughts is passed. But Leo is beginning to doubt, especially in the light of the confessions he hears from people under the influence of the drug. Is there such a thing as a mind pure enough to pass the test?
Some of the best parts of this book are the confessions made under the influence of Kallocain that Leo hears while administering the syringe. They feel personal and fresh and offer a clever way of telling more about this society from a human perspective. Like the woman who is married to a state traitor but in her confession is focusing on the amazing thing that he loved and trusted her enough to tell her. Or the members of a strange little cult who show just how small an act of rebellion can be and still bring hope.
Kallocain is clearly written as a warning against Stalinism, and comes across a little dated. But Boye’s dry, Kafkaesque style is still very readable. And a lot of the situations put forth in this slender book are fresh takes on the old “free thinker in an oppressive society” theme that at least I have never read before. I recommend it to any fan of dystopian literature.
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reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984. In Boye’s version of totalitarianism, children are taken from their parents and put in training camps at the age of seven, whole cities are devoted to producing specific items (our hero Leo Kall lives in Chemistry City 4), and every word you speak, both in public and in private is being judged. Leo Kall is a chemist and a loyal servant of the World State, and with his invention Kallocain – a dead-sure truth serum, leaving no permanent damage in the subject – he provides the government with a powerful instrument of control. For the first time it’s possible not only to focus on acts, but on intentions and innermost thoughts in the citizens. It’s possible to find out who is really loyal to the core. And who is a doubter, a dreamer, a poser, a traitor. Kallocain is a huge success, and a law that criminalizes thoughts is passed. But Leo is beginning to doubt, especially in the light of the confessions he hears from people under the influence of the drug. Is there such a thing as a mind pure enough to pass the test?
Some of the best parts of this book are the confessions made under the influence of Kallocain that Leo hears while administering the syringe. They feel personal and fresh and offer a clever way of telling more about this society from a human perspective. Like the woman who is married to a state traitor but in her confession is focusing on the amazing thing that he loved and trusted her enough to tell her. Or the members of a strange little cult who show just how small an act of rebellion can be and still bring hope.
Kallocain is clearly written as a warning against Stalinism, and comes across a little dated. But Boye’s dry, Kafkaesque style is still very readable. And a lot of the situations put forth in this slender book are fresh takes on the old “free thinker in an oppressive society” theme that at least I have never read before. I recommend it to any fan of dystopian literature.
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LibraryThing member lquilter
I wouldn't call it "hilarious",* for sure, but I definitely agree that Karin Boye has done us a great service in writing this book. Reminiscent of 1984 and also of Yvgeny Zamyatin's WE, KALLOCAIN is actually more frightening than either of those. The mind of the "collaborator," the willing citizen
* This review was responding in part to another review on Amazon.com, titled, "Hilarious futuristic vision."
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of a totalitarian state, is laid bare; his rationales and fears are thus universalized, and one sees the tyrant in all of us ...* This review was responding in part to another review on Amazon.com, titled, "Hilarious futuristic vision."
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LibraryThing member unclebob53703
A dystopian novel in the tradition of 1984, but much more grim, I think because the protagonist is not struggling against the state, but seems to have wholeheartedly accepted it. He invents a drug that causes people to tell the truth, and in testing it is exposed tothe thoughts of people who
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struggle against it, although in a very vague way. It's a short book, and there isn't much left of it by the time the protagonist is changed--strangely enough by using the drug on his wife to expose what he thinks will be her infidelity. He finds something completely unexpected and his entire outlook changes. The book ends very abruptly with a twist that has little to do with the rest of the narrative. I found it to be very absorbing and interesting, well worth reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member burritapal
Sad book. World police state has everyone in fear and hating on and turning on each other. Kind of like what it will be like when Trump gets elected. But like in the book, the finger will lose, as well.
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 1941)
Language
Original publication date
1940
Physical description
227 p.; 19 cm
ISBN
9100460206 / 9789100460204