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Dystopian fiction as intended in the Western literary tradition is a 20

th century phenomenon on

the Arabic literary scene. This relatively new genre has been experiencing an uplift since the

beginning of the 21

st century and many works that have been defined dystopias have been

published and translated into English in the last 10 – 15 years. In order to find out their main

features, Claeys’s categorization of literary dystopias is applied and a thematic analysis is

carried out on four Arabic dystopian works of narrative, written by authors from different parts

of the Arabic world. The analysis shows that 21

st century Arabic dystopias are political

dystopias, with totalitarianism as their main variation. Rather than on society, their focus is on

the individual, and more specifically on personal freedom. The totalitarian constraints are

mainly caused by religious fundamentalism and bureaucratic procedures. Surveillance and

control over population are implemented by means of religious precepts and bureaucratic

constructions, together with, in some instances, control over language and technological

devices. Political totalitarianism regardless of a specific political ideology is identified as main

theme. The thesis suggests that a Western-based classification framework is only partially

suitable for Arabic dystopian fiction of the 21

st century and that further research, including but

not limited to a specific classification theory for Arabic dystopian fiction, is necessary to

properly investigate this new literary trend in Arabic literature.