Urban Landscape in Paul Lynch’s The Prophet Song: Power, Surveillance, Resistance

Abstract

This paper explores how Paul Lynch’s The Prophet Song portrays issues vis-à-vis surveillance, escape and resistance in urban landscapes. The dystopian novel envisions futuristic society wherein existing democratic government attempts to control citizens by using surveillance technologies, whereas, characters in the novel try to resist and escape from the totalitarian venture. The novel is a cautionary tale depicting civil liberties being destroyed in urban spaces by these technologies so raising questions of surveillance ethics. The paper attempts to study power dynamics in urban landscapes using Foucault’s notion of disciplinary power, surveillance and resistance provide crucial insights into the novel’s depiction of social control and resistance. The paper offers a perspective to re-think about structures of power dynamics and search for agency in urban landscape.