dysthopian Novels , recommendations ?

Seres

hi , just after finishing A brave new world which i found fascinating , and also read A clock work orange recently and loved too , i really enjoyed the different mechanisms both novels address in repressing society/individualism for easy governance . I also loved 1984 for the same reasons .
I would just like to ask here of similar novels people could recommend ?

Cavehill Red

Seres wrote: »

hi , just after finishing A brave new world which i found fascinating , and also read A clock work orange recently and loved too , i really enjoyed the different mechanisms both novels address in repressing society/individualism for easy governance . I also loved 1984 for the same reasons .
I would just like to ask here of similar novels people could recommend ?

WE, by Zamyatin - influenced all of the above books.

Seres

Cavehill Red wrote: »

WE, by Zamyatin - influenced all of the above books.

just read about it a bit there , sounds interesting ..... does it help to know bout stalinism ?

dr gonzo

Well you could finish out what appears to be the big three of this genre: BNW, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. Personally i prefer F451 less then the former two but its still very good (in fact i must re-read it).

nebo

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick is one of my favorites. You should give that a go!

Cavehill Red

Seres wrote: »

just read about it a bit there , sounds interesting ..... does it help to know bout stalinism ?

I suppose it adds a bit to appreciating what Zamyatin was inspired by, but the book is entirely set in a quite abstract dystopic society not unlike Logan's Run (another great dystopic tale inspired by WE), so knowledge of Soviet Russia really isn't needed any more than it's needed to follow Animal Farm.

Kinski

dr gonzo wrote: »

Well you could finish out what appears to be the big three of this genre: BNW, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. Personally i prefer F451 less then the former two but its still very good (in fact i must re-read it).

I wouldn't have thought Fahrenheit was considered to be in the same league as the Orwell and Huxley. If there is a 'big three' (and I'm not saying there is) it's probably those two alongside Cavehill's suggestion, We. I've never read any Bradbury, but I've often heard it said that he was a bad writer (which is not necessarily a barrier to achieving success/winning acclaim in genre fiction).

OP, I'd second the suggestion of We, and also urge you to check out the wonderful Terry Gilliam movie Brazil (which was at one stage going to be entitled 1984 and a 1/2).

coffee_cake

handmaid's tale by atwood

dots03

bluewolf wrote: »

handmaid's tale by atwood

...also Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood which is truely excellent. One of my favourites of the genre.

Others I would recommend

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Children of Men by PD James
Fatherland by Robert Harris

All excellent reads.

coffee_cake

dots03 wrote: »

...also Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood which is truely excellent. One of my favourites of the genre.

thanks, i will put that on my list

Seres

thanks will give The handmaids Tale and We a go and see how i get on from there ...

Cavehill Red

dots03 wrote: »

Others I would recommend

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Children of Men by PD James
Fatherland by Robert Harris

All excellent reads.

Excellent reads, yes. Dystopic fictions? Not so much. Oryx and Crake is, though, and a very good one indeed.

Should probably clarify why I say that. Fatherland is an alternate history in which the Nazis are not defeated. In fact, it's a genre thriller within an alternate history. Fascinating, but not dystopic per se. The Road is simply post-apocalyptic, like a lonely, abstract mad max universe. There's an argument for saying that post-apocalypse fictions are de facto dystopic, but they lack that philosophical element of what it is about today's world that is unsatisfactory which could lead to a counter-utopia in the imagined future. In The Road, the apocalypse has just happened. No explanation of what or why, really. Nothing wrong with that, but that makes it substantially less dystopic to me. You could definitely make a good case for Children of Men as a dystopia. I suppose my objection there is that it's basically just a thin reworking of The Wanting Seed, the sadly neglected sister novel to A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess. James adds nothing to The Wanting Seed's plot and if anything takes plenty away which enriches Burgess's novel.

Seres

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Excellent reads, yes. Dystopic fictions? Not so much. Oryx and Crake is, though, and a very good one indeed.

Should probably clarify why I say that. Fatherland is an alternate history in which the Nazis are not defeated. In fact, it's a genre thriller within an alternate history. Fascinating, but not dystopic per se. The Road is simply post-apocalyptic, like a lonely, abstract mad max universe. There's an argument for saying that post-apocalypse fictions are de facto dystopic, but they lack that philosophical element of what it is about today's world that is unsatisfactory which could lead to a counter-utopia in the imagined future. In The Road, the apocalypse has just happened. No explanation of what or why, really. Nothing wrong with that, but that makes it substantially less dystopic to me. You could definitely make a good case for Children of Men as a dystopia. I suppose my objection there is that it's basically just a thin reworking of The Wanting Seed, the sadly neglected sister novel to A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess. James adds nothing to The Wanting Seed's plot and if anything takes plenty away which enriches Burgess's novel.

Had the same opinion on The Road also ! thanks regards the insight into the other two

berettaman

Some great novels mentioned, The Road is class. Metro 2033 by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky is excellent. Also made into a game I believe.
Neuromancer by William Gibson is worth a look and at the other end of the spectrum you have The Strain by Chuck hogan or the stand by Stephen King. Dunno if they count though..

Morlar

It doesn't strictly fit the definition but I'd recomend 'The Child Garden' by Geoff Ryman, for a novel set in an all encompassing 'mother knows best' kind of society. I'd second the Gibson books above. Phillip K.Dick and Franz Kafka also stand out in this category.

Cavehill Red

Gibson does have a dystopic streak to him alright. I wouldn't consider his works to be dystopic in themselves, though. Closer in the sci-fi genre might be some of Kim Stanley Robinson's later stuff - the eco-dystopias for example (40 days of rain, etc.)

Bearhunter

Ira Levin's This Perfect Day is a great read.

dr gonzo

berettaman wrote: »

Metro 2033 by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky is excellent. Also made into a game I believe.

Reading this at the moment and really enjoying it although at times i think the translation gets in the way a little.

Denerick

A discussion of dystopian literature without any mention of Orwell? For shame.

Kinski

Denerick wrote: »

A discussion of dystopian literature without any mention of Orwell? For shame.

Posting in the discussion without reading the OP? For shame.

Actually 1984 is mentioned in at least three posts.

Denerick

Kinski wrote: »

Posting in the discussion without reading the OP? For shame.

Actually 1984 is mentioned in at least three posts.

I stand corrected; I am tired, and must retire.

Until we meet again, nemesis.

Kinski

Denerick wrote: »

I stand corrected; I am tired, and must retire.

Until we meet again, nemesis.

Big Brother is watching you.

Conall Cernach

Make Room, Make Room by Harry Harrison is surely worthy of a mention here. It deals with an over crowded near future with food and energy shortages.

Emiko

I've just finished Paolo Bacigalupi's debut novel, 'The Windup Girl' about a dystopian future in which genetically-modifying-food companies hold sway.

An excellently written sci-fi book.

berettaman

dr gonzo wrote: »

Reading this at the moment and really enjoying it although at times i think the translation gets in the way a little.

Absolutely, it is a bit awkward in places but still riveting..
The next two were recomended by a friend the other night. Love to get them...
The Book of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe and world war Z by max Brooks (Brad Pitt has the Movie rights for this now..)