History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.
Watching all the presidential primary activity has made me think about political dystopias (hmm, I wonder why), which leads me to a question: What would you put on a "must read" list for great dystopian fiction?
Off the top of my head, I might start my list with these titles...
"The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster (1909) The Sleeper Wakes by H.G. Wells (1910) We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1921) It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (1935) Swastika Night by Katharine Burdekin (1937) Anthem by Ayn Rand (1938) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932) 1984 by George Orwell (1949) Earth Abides by George R. Stewart (1949) Gather, Darkness by Fritz Leiber (1950) Limbo by Bernard Wolfe (1952) The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth (1952/1953) Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953) The Chrysalids by John Wyndham (1955) A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller (1960) "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut (1961) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962) 334 by Thomas Disch (1972) The Dispossessed bu Ursule K. Le Guin (1974) Shockwave Rider by John Brunner (1975) Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985) The Gate to Women's Country by Sherri S. Tepper (1988) Children of Men by P.D. James (1992) Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (1992) Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (1993) The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993) Feed by M.T. Anderson (2002) Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (2004)
(Note: I'm not counting disaster/post-apocalyptic novels that focus more on the disaster/apocalyptic event than on the world that follows it.)
On, Lethem's novel is perfect! Thanks so much for the recommendation.
Amy H. Sturgis -
2/19/2008
Excellent! Thanks so much.
Amy H. Sturgis -
2/19/2008
Excellent picks! Thanks so much.
Amy H. Sturgis -
2/19/2008
I have Snow Crash, but Diamond Age is a great additon - thanks!
I've put The Guardener's Tale on my reading list. I really appreciate the recommendation! Thank you so much.
Amy H. Sturgis -
2/19/2008
Excellent recommendation re: Ira Levin! Thanks so much. I really appreciate it.
I realize Earth Abides is technically more post-apocalyptic fiction than dystopia, but like Canticle for Leibowitz, I'm letting it "slip in" to my list because it does in fact describe a world that is not preferable to our own (in that Ish does not see "civilization" as he understood it rebounding) and that carries a warning inherent in its message. And also, I really like it. :)
I would defend 334 as a dystopia, though, for the same reason that a number of genre scholars have labeled it as such: its description of the decline of the United States (like the Roman Empire, hence the reference to 334 CE) illustrates a world of overcrowding, excessive regulation (including regulation of reproduction), escape via hallucinogens and violence, etc. that is not preferable to our own, one that carries with it an implied warning about the future we may create if we don't examine and change our current behavior.
Amy H. Sturgis -
2/19/2008
Great! Thank you.
Amy H. Sturgis -
2/19/2008
*slaps forehead* Of course!
Amy H. Sturgis -
2/19/2008
Excellent call! That didn't occur to me, but you're quite right. Thanks so much.
Amy H. Sturgis -
2/19/2008
Great point! I was thinking of "If This Goes On," Podkayne of Mars, or even Farnham's Freehold (which is more post-apocalyptic than anything else), but you've got a very good point about Friday. Thank you so much!
Jesse Walker -
2/19/2008
I would add Jonathan Lethem's Gun, with Occasional Music. And I'd defend the classification of 334 as a dystopia as well.
Aeon J. Skoble -
2/18/2008
I can't believe I forgot Logan's Run. [slaps forehead]
Roderick T. Long -
2/18/2008
Jules Verne's Paris in the 20th Century and The Begum's Millions
H. G. Wells' The Time Machine
G. K. Chesterton's The Flying Inn [and parts of The Ball and the Cross]
C. S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength [maybe]
Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged [surprised that no one's mentioned it!]
Robert Heinlein's If This Goes On--
William F. Nolan & George Clayton Johnson's Logan's Run
J. Neil Schulman's Alongside Night and Rainbow Cadenza
Paul Noonan -
2/17/2008
I'd add Jack London'a THE IRON HEEL (1908) and Kurt Vonnegut's first novel, PLAYER PIANO (1952).
Jeff Riggenbach -
2/17/2008
I second the nomination of Snow Crash and The Diamond Age, though I don't think either is really a dystopia.
Also, the list should contain The Guardener's Tale by Bruce Boston.
JR
Craig J Bolton -
2/16/2008
Acknowledging the problem that Jeff has raised I'd nominate Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and The Diamond Age. The problem with these being classic dis-utopias, however, is that they could as well be viewed as an optimistic speculation about the best we can expect from where we are now.
Jeff Riggenbach -
2/16/2008
I'd add Ira Levin's This Perfect Day, and I'd note that Earth Abides is not a dystopia. Nor, as far as I can see, is 334. What sort of definition of "dystopia" is operative here?
JR
Aeon J. Skoble -
2/16/2008
Arguably, _We The Living_ belongs on the list. That the dystopian setting for the fictional story was real, doesn't make it less dystopian.
Also, Frank Miller's _Give Me Liberty_.
Aeon J. Skoble -
2/16/2008
Great list! Add V for Vendetta, though. I'll be back later with more.
Keith Halderman -
2/16/2008
A book that really affected me was Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon. While I am not sure it strictly fits into your category it seems to me that many of these books make the point that no matter how much you a part of the elite you are still vulnerable. Koestler presents this idea very effectively and I think he is the reason the notion of being part of the ruling class has never appealed to me because there is no real security there.
Jonathan Dresner -
2/15/2008
I'd add Friday by Robert Heinlein (1982) to the mix: it's not a full-bore traditional dystopia, in the sense that there is a mix of functional and non-functional societies at work, but it includes some clearly dystopic elements, particularly in the role of corporations and the devolution of American politics. It's also -- though I didn't realize this in HS when I first read it -- deeply libertarian. Not triumphally so, though, which is why I still consider it one of his finest works.
