What Makes A Memorable Literary Dystopia & Has This Changed Any In The 21st Century? (3/24/19)

[Marc]

Do the literary dystopias of the 21st century differ much from those of the past? What makes a memorable literary dystopia? Are there any published this century that you think will become so-called "classics?"

[Hugh]

Dystopian fiction is rarely my favourite genre, perhaps because it is so difficult to make it convincing. The last dystopian book I read was The Power by Naomi Alderman which was my least favourite of all the 140+ books I read in 2018.

[Paul]

I wasn't a fan either - although I can see it becoming a classic.

[David]

I'm with Hugh about it being difficult to do well. I thought The Power was very good, but I liked a couple of other books by Naomi Alderman more. David Means' Hystopia was ok, but I like his short stories a lot more. I started reading Thea Lim's Giller nominated book Ocean Of Minutes and got more than halfway through it when I abandoned it.

I can't think of a really great recent dystopia book I've read, which is a bit funny because two TV series I have liked a lot in the last few years are The Walking Dead (although I have given up on it now) and The Handmaid's Tale. Both are adaptations of print publications.

[Nadine in California]

One of the most original (and visceral) dystopias I've read recently is The Book of Joan. It's not an easy book, there is body horror that nearly drove me away - but for inventiveness and social/psychological depth, I haven't read a recent one to beat it.

[Laurie]

I agree that dystopia is hard to do well. The best I've read in a while is Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, but I'm not sure it will become a classic. I thought The Power, which I read last month was terrible. If Parable of the Sower was 21st century, I might have picked it as a future classic for your time frame, as I believe it will endure.

So many dystopian classics focused on societies based on a totalitarian governments like 1984, Brave New World, We, or The Handmaid's Tale. Some of the newer books are focusing more on environmental or medical catastrophes like Station Eleven, American War, or Oryx and Crake. There always has been and will be a mix of reasons for the dystopian situation in books, but environmental disasters or plagues seem easier to make quite believable these days.

[Whitney]

Laurie wrote: "I agree that dystopia is hard to do well. The best I've read in a while is Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, but I'm not sure it will become a classic. I tho..."

I had the same thoughts as you, Station Eleven was one of the best recent ones, but not sure it will endure. I also think Parable of the Sower is the best of the more recent dystopias, and also very believable in its world building.

An anthology that looks great and offers a counterpoint to the usual bleak dystopias of SF is A People's Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers, in which the contributors were told that the stories had to be hopeful; challenging rather than enforcing ideas of insurmountable oppression and doom.

[Lily]

Is Cormac McCarthy's book The Road (2006) considered a dystopian novel?

[Hugh]

Lily wrote: "Is Cormac McCarthy's book The Road (2006) considered a dystopian novel?"

I think it fits the definition as I understand it.

[Lily]

Hugh wrote: "Lily wrote: "Is Cormac McCarthy's book The Road (2006) considered a dystopian novel?"

I think it fits the definition as I understand it."

Interesting. I don't find that we have discussed here as a choice among 21st Century Literature.

[LindaJ^]

In addition to Station Eleven and The Road, potential 21st century literary dystopias that might have some staying power are The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, Justin Cronin's Passage trilogy - The Passage, The Twelve, The City of Mirrors, Margaret Atwood's Madd Adam triology - Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, MaddAddam, and N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth triology - The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky.

[Whitney]

On the subject of Dystopia's, there is an amazing looking, 24 episode series from the Great Courses called "Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature". It starts back at Thomas More and works it way up through all the greats to arrive at the 21st Century. And there are TWO episodes dedicated to Octavia Butler!

If your library subscribes to Kanopy, you can stream it for free.

[LindaJ^]

Whitney wrote: "On the subject of Dystopia's, there is an amazing looking, 24 episode series from the Great Courses called "Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature". It starts back at Thomas More and works..."

You are right Whitney - that is a most enjoyable series. I picked it up on Audible during a sale and found it very enjoyable and, like you, was excited to see that Butler got some serious attention.

[Whitney]

LindaJ^ wrote: "Whitney wrote: "On the subject of Dystopia's, there is an amazing looking, 24 episode series from the Great Courses called "Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature". It starts back at Thoma..."

Excellent! Now I will definitely give it a watch.