The Legacy of Totalitarianism in a Tundra is a collaborative meta fictional postmodern novel written (anonymously, of course) by 4chan's /lit/ board. The novel spoofs famous authors such as Thomas Pynchon as well as numerous memes, conspiracy theories, and pop culture references that are common on 4chan.
Recently, /lit/ announced a Sunshine Noir themed sequel: The Legacy of Totalitarianism in a Tundra II: Miami, which was infamously completed in less than a day and spawned an Spin-Off entitled: Kolsti's Adventures in the Everglades, starring teenage literary prodigy and /lit/ meme Kolsti Nguyen. /lit/ is currently planning a third installment based on the premise that Everything's Better with Samurai.
This book provides examples of:
- Conspiracy Kitchen Sink: the Reptilian Conspiracy, The Illuminati, and so on appear in the book.
- Deconstruction: Of various high-literary Mind Screw works.
- The Illuminati: In addition to the Reptilian Conspiracy, this is another conspiracy theory fixture that appears in the work.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Dakota Fanning, Tao Lin, and a lizard people version of Bob Saget all appear in the text. Not to mention numerous literary figures discussed frequently on /lit/, such as Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace.
- Mind Screw: Really, try to read this and say with a straight face that you understand the plot.
- Political Correctness Is Evil: As this is one of /lit/'s (and Four Chan's) major bugbears, it's no wonder that this theme is satirized heavily in The Legacy of Totalitarianism in a Tundra. The first few pages even include a long list of trigger warnings found in the text.
- Postmodernism: A pretty heavy satirical deconstruction of that style and genre.
- Reptilian Conspiracy: David Icke's conspiracy theory about the Lizard Folk plays heavily into the plot of the work.
- Running Gag: The story's frequent reference to itself functions as this. One character is working on a collaborative novel with internet friends, and in another scene The Legacy of Totalitarianism in a Tundra even exists as a published book within the story itself.
- The Singularity: Features in the story.
- Straw Feminist: The novel parodies some of the terminology used by online social justice communities.
- Those Wacky Nazis: An internet white supremacist (in the form of a rat) appears early on in the book, espousing the glories of Alex Jones' Infowars website.
