The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Earth Abides - George Stewart
By the way, Stewart also wrote an amazing book on the Donner Party. I know little of this author but his writing is wonderful.
There seems to be a general misunderstanding that Dystopian fiction requires a post-apocalyptic setting - it often has one, but only as a plot device to facilitate the flawed society explored. The fiction really needs to be about a perversion of societal norms to count in this genre. For this reason, books like The Road and I Am Legend don’t really count - they describe worlds without societies altogether.
Anyway, I’d add Erewhon (Samuel Butler) to this list - one of the finest and funniest ‘topsy turvy’ worlds ever created.
City of Endless Night, Half Past Human/The Godwhale, the Draka* series, and both Brave New World and *We *are either not post-apocalyptic or so far past the apocalypse it’s about as relevant as Noah’s Flood to the story.
- Ok, the Draka taking over the world might qualify as the apocalypse, but plenty of the rest of the story occurs before that.
It’s really more of a short story, but there’s always Vonnegut’s ‘Harrison Bergeron’
I’m with you, and I’ll add I didn’t like the whole concept of Divergent. I don’t believe the author developed any backstory. The only way that world exists is if the Judeo-Christian God creates it in media res.
Ayn Rand’s Anthem (which we’ve all read because it was the shortest book on the summer reading list)
I wonder what would be considered the earliest dystopian novel. We was written in 1921, but I would propose The Time Machine (1895) as an earlier example…
Wouldnt some of the Greek tragedies qualify?
They’re not really about dystopian societies, they’re about ordinary Greek societies where events have gone to shit. Not the same thing. A novel set during the American Civil War or the Great Depression might be depressing, but it is not a dystopian novel.
Sure - Plato’s Republic, from around 380 BC. The division of society into ridged castes (gold, silver, bronze, iron), the abolishment of the family so that parents and children do not know each other, and controlled breeding of human beings dictated by the “philosopher-kings” is not where I would want to live. I’m sure it would be fine if you were at the very top but I don’t think those on the bottom would have such a wonderful life.
It actually sounds a bit like Brave New World or We.
You might say the same about More’s Utopia – which nevertheless is a utopian novel, not a dystopian novel, and so is Plato’s Republic.
I would not like to live in the Libertarian paradise of L. Neil Smith’s The Probability Broach – but that’s still a utopian novel, not a dystopian novel.
It’s all a matter of how the author intends it.
It’s been a while since I read it but I was not of the understanding that Plato’s Republic was considered a novel. I believe it’s Jibba Jabba, technically.
I’m not sure they even had what we’d call a novel back in Plato’s day.
I recently read “The Pianist” by Wladyslaw Szpilman, and although it is not a novel, it certainly reads like a dystopian novel. I highly recommend it.
“Meeks” by Julia Holmes
“City of Bohane” by Kevin Barry
“The Country of Ice Cream Star” by Sandra Newman
“Wittgenstein’s Mistress” by David Markson
“California” by Eden Lepucki
“Blood Meridian” by Cormac McCarthy
“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy
“Chalcot Crescent” by Fay Weldon
anything by Margaret Atwood
“1984” (obviously)
“Brave New World” (obviously)
Didn’t see A Canticle For Leibowitz. A true classic.
Also Vic and Blood: The Chronicles of a Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison. Superb B movie as well, with a young Don Johnson.
Here’s an obscure one that’s well worth your time to track down a copy and read: Wyst: Alastor 1716. Set in a world where advanced technology lets everyone get by with little work. Society degenerates into consumerism, hyper-sexuality, celebrity worship, and anti-intellectualism. (Perhaps this vaguely sounds familiar.) It is also an excellent adventure story with strong characters to cheer for.
After the End is a different thing than Dystopia – although the Topeka Downunder in ABAHD might count as a dystopia.
I submit Mary Shelly’s The Last Man for earliest sci-fi dystopia. 1826