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Dystopias

C

cabbagescribe

New Member
What are some good dystopian books? Dystopia is a nightmarish society, a utopia gone wrong. We all know the classics: 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World.

I am reading Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago", and I find it terrifying. It's about the Soviet "justice" system. It is non-fiction, so normally one wouldn't classify it as dystopian, but it feels like one.
 
Would Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe qualify?

Being stuck in a remote mountain village sounds quite utopian to me, but the situation in the book is far from rosy.
 
Apart from the most obvious - "1984", "Brave New World", "Fahrenheit 451", "Clockwork Orange" etc:

"Galapagos" by Kurt Vonnegut (pretty much anything by Vonnegut, actually - oh, and the short story "Harrison Bergeron".)

"Oryx & Crake" by Margaret Atwood

"Kallocain" by Karin Boye

"War With The Newts" by Karel Capek

"In The Country Of The Last Things" by Paul Auster
 
Dante's Inferno, perhaps, as an ultimate dystopia, even if off the main highwway.
Peder
 
I remember having read Franz Kafka's "The Trial", it was a very unsettling book. I'm bringing this up because I just borrowed "The Castle" by Kafka and was wondering if it's in the same vein.
 
I took a class on dystopian lit in college. We read some of the books listed above, and also:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Dick
Parable of the Sower - Butler
Snow Crash - Stephenson
 
If you ask me, the Puritan society was a dystopia, so I'd venture to say The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible, both of which I loved. Perfect examples of why Puritanism was so dangerous.
 
The Wanting Seed by Anthony Burgess. I liked it better than A Clockwork Orange.

It reminds me of the ol "one child rule" in the East.
 
Looking for Utopian/Dystopian Novels

So far on my list:
H.G.Wells, The Time Machine
Orwell, 1984
A. Huxley, Brave New World
Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale
Lowry, The Giver, Gathering Blue, and The Messenger
Swift, Gulliver's Travels

Do you have some more suggestions for me? I am particularly interested in books that are suitable for young adults. Looking forward to your recommendations. :)
 
ink-heart said:
H.G.Wells, The Time Machine
Orwell, 1984
A. Huxley, Brave New World
Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale
Lowry, The Giver, Gathering Blue, and The Messenger
Swift, Gulliver's Travels
Click to expand...
I like your list. You might add:

Orwell, Animal Farm
Skinner, Walden Two
Howells, A Visitor from Altruria
Wylie, When World's Collide
LeGuin, The Dispossessed
 
Battle Royale, Koushun Takami
Kallocain, Karin Boye
In The Country Of Last Things, Paul Auster
Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
 
Wow, you are amazing. I actually know some of the suggested books but just didn't think of them in the context, like "Animal Farm". Some I've heard of but never read, like "Utopia", but of most I don't even know the authors' names. I will check them up and think there's a mighty long reading list coming up for me. :) But don't stop - I simply love these lists. :D
 
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