Issues in Interdisciplinarity 2018-19/Issues in Interdisciplinarity/Truth In Uchronia

Uchronia, ‘that which have no historical reality’, also known as ‘alternate history’, is a literary genre which explores the possible outcomes of history if an important global event had occurred differently. It is therefore very speculative as the author alone must create an entirely different world from a single event, which one calls, ‘the divergent point’. One may wonder if there is a reason in inventing something which to the reader appears blatantly false, and is yet so inextricably linked to our reality. Perhaps lies and fiction are more effective than any exposé when it comes to denouncing the bias of our society. In this way, one would perceive truth in a vivid way, seeing incidental factors, and understanding which choices and values built the world we know today. These fictional worlds are never far apart from dystopias, ‘pessimistic visions of the world’. Uchronia is therefore the ‘black mirror’ of the contemporary world, reflecting deeply entrenched political corruption and desire of power, which are the enemies of democracy. What the readers holds as true and undeniable may be challenged by fiction which acts as a conduit for self-reflection and political, philosophical and historical thought. All these conditions are met in the novel The Man in The High Castle, by Philip K. Dick, which depicts a world dominated by Germany and Japan after they won World War 2.