Literature has been a defining part of culture since the beginning of language. The dangers of modern times have led to the writing of dystopian novels, novels which warn of an unhappy future. Many people think of Dystopian novels as purely science fiction—while science fiction is a natural fit for a dystopian story, not all dystopian books are considered science fiction. Without further delay, here are the 12 best dystopian novels.
This novel isn’t the 12th best on the list (it would be rated much higher in my opinion) but it’s at number twelve because of the on going argument whether this is truly a dystopian novel or not. The definition of dystopia isn’t necessarily clear, though the general definition is that it is a society in which misery and negative conditions prevail (or a seeming utopia gained at horrifying costs.)
As far as a dysfunctional society, the island with its stranded little boys is it, and once the conch shell is no longer seen as authority, everything breaks apart. If anyone wants to argue that an anarchy could work, this book would be an immediate argument against it. This is an incredible psychological work, and I’d say their society is definitely dysfunctional enough to count as a dystopia.
This story comes from the first person Offred. Offred is a maid in a time when fertile women are forced to be breeding machines to keep the human population going. This takes place because the world is a post-nuclear world where many women can’t have children. This is a very theocratic society, and this book tends to be very pro-feminist and anti-religious, which causes it to often be protested. This is a great dystopian tale that is frightening because the logic of how the society became the way it is happens to be very believable.
Most of William Gibson’s novels revolve around a dystopian future society, but Neuromancer may be the best of them all. This novel won the sci-fi “triple crown” for writers by winning the Nebula, Hugo, and Philip K. Dick awards. In the seedy underground of a Japanese city, a computer hacker is hired to work on the ultimate hack. In a world flushed with AI, virtual reality, genetic engineering, and corporations overpowering nations, the adventure follows. Gibson beat many modern sci-fi writers to the punch, and this dystopian novel is one of the most influential in modern times.
Iron Heel is an excellent dystopian novel about the rise of a tyrannical corporate oligarchy in the United States. This book doesn’t pay attention to technology the way most future dystopian science fiction novels do now. This work stressed changes in society and politics, with the oligarchy formed by robber barons whom bankrupt all the middle class and seize power before enforcing a “caste system” of workers. This was a fantastic dystopian novel that was far ahead of its time.
Written by Stephen King under the penname of Richard Bachman, “The Running Man” is a fantastic dystopian novel about a frightening future where ratings and entertainment takes form in a man hunt, and where even the “winners” are losers. This novel is far superior to the movie, and in my opinion is one of the best novels written by Stephen King. “The Long Walk” is also an honorable mention.
I’ve probably read over 200 books the last two years, and among many good novels, “Armageddon’s Children” has been one of my favorites. This is one of the best novels written by Terry Brooks, and takes place in a post apocalyptic world around 2100, following (among others) a lone remaining knight trying desperately to fight off the demon onslaught and a group of street gang kids who roam the remains of Seattle trying to survive. The fantasy world of Shannara was supposedly spawned from the post apocalyptic wastes of Earth, and this series bridges the gap between the two.
This dystopian novel is another example of a post-nuclear world. This time the dystopia comes from a “need” for purity. As humans are being born with increasing levels of mutations and deformities, the state decides to execute anyone who isn’t “perfect,” meaning even one extra toe can be a death sentence. This attempt at forcing perfection in a post apocalyptic world is disturbing and effective, and has spawned many imitators.
Most people will know about the film with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore. The movie was very good, but is far different from the book. In this world, for reasons unknown, all men’s sperm count plummeted to zero, and without reason or explanation, mankind now faces its own extinction. The fear mongering during this time has allowed governments extraordinary powers to keep the peace, and when a woman becomes pregnant, the implications are enormous.
“The Time Machine” is one of the best science fiction novels to ever be written. This novel is the story of “The Time Traveler” who builds a machine that allows him to travel to the far distant future. While this might not seem dystopian at first glance, but a seemingly gentle and happy society is plagued by predators who harvest people for food…if that doesn’t qualify as a crappy dystopian society, I don’t know what does. The hero tells his story to a man of his time, grabs weapons, and goes back into the future never to return. This novel is where the term “time machine” even came from.
This isn’t the best written novel, but it is one of the big three of the dystopian science fiction novels. This could very well be the most recognizable of the big three, as “1984″ is synonymous with tyrannical governments, fascism, and dystopian science fiction. Even the phrases “1984″ and “Big Brother” are now part of the common culture. Orwell’s detailed novel shows how a government can manipulate the people by manipulating the truth and manipulating the news. This book is the source for arguing against a far right government getting unfettered power.
Guy Montag begins this classic novel as a fireman: meaning he is a man society calls on to burn all books, which are outlawed. Unlike “1984″ or “Brave New World,” “451″ doesn’t speak politically against the left or the right politically, but speaks against the dumbing down of society, specifically on how Hollywood pop culture slush and TV entertainment can create an entire nation of people who are not only incapable of fighting for their rights, but who don’t even realize the importance of doing so. This is a brilliant novel that shows Guy going from soldier of the state to an independent free thinker who must go on the run to survive.
While this dystopian masterpiece and “Fahrenheit 451″ could be interchangeable as the top two, “Brave New World” gets the nod because the writing itself is the best. This novel is incredible, showing a society where left leaning thinking and self hedonism is taken so far to the extreme that one person’s utopia turns out to be an appalling place where the irony of a peaceful existence has caused society to lose all concept of art, honor, religious beliefs, or anything that often defines culture. The “utopia” has people who have no sympathy, no empathy, and this vision of a future is as chilling as any other on this list.
Contributor: Shane Dayton
great list! i’d add The Slynx, The Road and We.
How about Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Lebowitz ? That is a great post-apocalypse/distopian novel
Great list man, i like how you included long walk in the running man summary. One of my favorite stephen king books. This is a great list, you should do more book lists. Maybe a great history books list, or i would like a great drug books list, or great musical biogrpahy list.
Also by Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake. Such an excellent read.
1984 is about any group gaining absolute power through the manipulation of information and control of language, not just the far Right. The Extreme Left (people like Lenin, Stalin, and Mao) perfected this at the same time that Hitler was making his Great Lie comment.
As to the list itself, overall I agree with the rankings, though I would replace “Lord of the Flies” with “We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin.
I don’t know if it’s the original corporations-will-rule-the-world dystopia, but “The Space Merchants” by Kornbluth and Pohl certainly predates “Jennifer Government” and “The Running Man”. Written more than 50 years ago, it’s vision of environmental destruction, rampant consumerism, and a society stratified by money & job status is prescient. Not to mention it’s a quick, funny read.
I liked “Brave New World”, but I didn’t love it like “F451″ or “1984″.
“F451″ is Hemingway-esque in it’s brevity and better in it’s estimates of future technology. It’s protagonist is anchorless; he could be anyone, anywhere.
“1984″ is one of Orwell’s brilliant and concise political essays writ for a larger stage. Again, the technological vision is excellent, and the grittiness and venality well conveyed.
“BNW”, though, reads like the work of a literati who is uncomfortably slumming in Sci-Fi to “Make An Important Point”. If Huxley had thrown in a few more purple adverbs and adjectives, he’d have written the “Gone With The Wind” of dystopian fiction.
Also interesting to me: dystopia writers of the 60 & 70s (eg. Hersey) feared over-population. Now with the western world’s precipitous decline in birth rates, PD James writes the obverse in “Children of Men”.
I also note that proponents of Margaret Atwood appear to be feminine posting names. Reasonable, given Atwood’s feminist concerns. I find her to be insufferably arrogant, though.
How about Paul Auster’s “In the Country of Last Things”?
Amazing book.
One book that I think could have made the list is City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. It’s a great book about two kids trying to escape from a community that was built to last for a certain amount of time.
It’s a great read, and I’m an official ambassador for the upcoming movie City of Ember (10/10/08). I’m coming to you first because I have some exclusive first-look pictures that you might enjoy and share with your blog readers.
Email me if you want them, I’d love to share them with you.
Bill Murray looks great as the villainous Mayor Cole.
I really think you’d like City of Ember because there are so many Dystopian themes present.
Would love to be in touch!
Best,
Amber Baynor
Official Ambassador
amber.cityofember.ambassador@gmail.com
Very few people seem to have read the novel “The Sheep Look Up” by John Brunner, but it deserves to be on this list. Just go read it. Now. Stop asking questions.
1984 is as much abnout far-left governments as far-right ones. Even more so. It’s mostly about Stalinism.
I’ve read almost all of these books and definitely agree with the list. For those of you who don’t, why not try writing your own list? These are opinion based lists, and not everyone has the same opinion.
Sarah, if you don’t agree with our disagreement with the list, why don’t you go ***** yourself?
chud -
cool it!
seriously, how is that in any way helpful?
that was harsh
fahrenheit 451 may be the most overated book ever written. it should not be on any best of list
Was it? I missed the comment. Whatever
Thanks, chud, you’re a lovely person.
Oh, by the way, my comment about creating your own lists was not meant to be rude, if that’s what it sounded like. It was a suggestion, maybe to start some more interesting lists.
I want to work on dystopian novel in my thesis and I don’tknow really what I want to search
No “Roadside Picnic”? I’m shocked :p
Wretched – Why don’t you ask Sarah? She knows everything.
OK, chud, that comment was uncalled for. I’ve been nothing but polite and I did apologize if I sounded rude at all.
Some of the items on the list are excellent picks. Some others I would argue with.
Lord of the Flies I would put down as an allegory, and probably not add to the list. There are also several items mentioned by previous comments, such as Zamyatin’s WE, and A Canticle for Leibowitz, Anthen and We the Living that I would very much rout for.
While Roadside Picnic is not a dystopia – the world is not ruined, only the Zones are a befuddling interference – the Strugatskys did write dystopic fiction; Grad Obrecheniy (The Doomed City) and Khromaya udba (The Lame Fate) are certainly dystopias and A Million Years Before the End of the World might qualify also.
I must concur with the outrage of not including Philip K. Dick. Man in the High Castle is frightening, as is A Scanner Darkly. Also, where’s Well’s When The Sleeper Wakes? Far more dystopic and harsh than The Time Machine. Also, what about earlier works, such as Abbot’s Flatland? If Lord of the Flies made the list, this allegory should also.
I would also give honourable mention to Connie Willis’s The Last Winnebago, as well as Snow Crash and The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson (who can’t write anything but dystopias as far as the eye can see).
Also, on the front of dystopias that are not sci-fi-ish, I would mention Kafka’s Trial, Milen Kundera’s Joke and Solzhenitsin’s… well, everything, Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, Bulgakov’s Heart of a Dog, and others I probably don’t remember.
“We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin is the best dystopian novel out there. It was published way before brave new world or 1984, but was suppressed by the Russian gov’t for a really long time. check it out…
Returning to this list, I’m very pleasantly surprised that many of you know about some more obscure books, such as WE by Zamyatin, and Huxley’s Island (which, JFrater, I highly suggest you pick up Island again).
And whoever called The Handmaid’s Tale a pretentious piece of crap needs some insight about the Christian Right.
An excellent list, Mr. Dayton. I should only hope to enlarge it with the following entries; Walter Michael Miller’s “Canticle for Leibowitz,” Lois Lowry’s haunting “The Giver,” and the oft imitated but never replicated Walker Percy’s groundbreaking “Love in the Ruins.” Another latter day (and quite readable, and very memorable, at that) post-apocalyptic Dystopia is laid out by the great John Updike in his 1998 novel, “Towards the End of Time.”
Keep up the good work.
Cheers to everyone who posted here.
I remain,
The Right Rev. Dr. Prometheus Samson Dark, esq.
Personal Addendum: My Apologies to Pheonix, for failing to include Brunner’s “The Sheep Look Up,” which, I agree, is a jaw-droppingly prophetic novel of the troubles into which we are currently drifting. GJ Pheonix.
As others have said ‘We’ by Zamyatin very important but also Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick important novel. JG Ballard’s first novel The Drowned World is worth a look and in fact Ballard’s subversive take on the world in most of his novels could be deemed dystopian….
Not bad, but what about A Clockwork Orange- that book was great (and so was the movie). Also, you may want to consider these: Logan’s Run, Anthem, Planet of the Apes, Atlas Shrugged, We, and Swastika Night. I have heard good things about all of them. But seriously, A Clockwork Orange has got to be on there!
This perfect day or The giver are my favorites
Another great one is Feed! I’m not sure of the author’s name but it is a newer book that is well written.
You are missing Yevgeny Zamyatin’s “We” – a book that predates Orwell and Huxley and that they both probably ripped off.
Also, “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy is excellent.
Well, it’s a good list, but it barely breaks the surface. Check out my Big List and see what you think.
epicdystopia.blogspot.com
Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 are two of the best books I’ve ever stumbled upon.
“Do androids dream of electric sheep ?” ( Blade Runner ) should not be missing from a dystopian novels list.
It also anticipates many of the conflicts in society that are we are now living.
Mark
i have read Lord of the Flies ,1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Brave New World and I personally think 1984 was the best of the dystopian novels. Brave New World was also really good and I would put it second.
This is a well researched list and I agree with its placement of Brave New World at the top. 1984 is important in seemingly being more culturally influencial, but Brave New World is a superior piece of literature to it. So is Fahrenheit 451.
This is a good list. You should do a Top Dystopian Films list! Also, on a side note, one of the posters needs to know that the word is “definitely,” not “definately.” That should have made one of the common english errors list.
Correction: one of the common english errors LISTS. What irony.
What about “If This Goes On-” by Robert A. Heinlein?
That was dystopian enough.
It also deals with a Far Right Wing Government in a Future US, That is also Fundementalist Religion based…
In Closing: chud, how’s about heading on back to your stall until you can act like a more sapient lifeform, and not so much like a troglodyte? There’s a good lad…
the handmaids tale is possibly THE most overrated book.. EVER!!
I haven’t read The Handmaid’s Tale yet…
How can you say that?
Whoops!
What makes you say that, I meant?
connor: You’re close, but not quite. The most overrated novel ever is actually Catcher in the Rye.
What is the name/author of the popular fiction dystopian novel about a young girl,.. who lives with her family in a gated up community but they have to leave it for somereasons and the faterh is shot, then the girl somehow is alone now and she walks on this long road trying not to be killed or noticed and pretends to be a boy, and she gets a gun and money and kills others I think? Then I think she fallsin love with someone she met on the road. I dont know..I read it a few years ago I never remembered the name..
Carey, I think you’re talking about Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.
… ummm no. The MOST overrated book of ALL TIME is Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. *shiver*
Oh! And for those who are looking for a hauntingly realistic dystopian novel, try Philip K. Dick’s – Penultimate Truth
Fairly new one is Blind Faith by Ben Elton… very Brave New World (my favourite on the list, much better read than 1984) but brought up to date.
great list,. and great picks!
Would Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’ qualify as dystopian literature? If so, it should definately have made the list, in any case a damn fine work of literature.
ole
You seem to have misplaced 1984 as it should definitely be number one.
seriously, why is ‘the Giver’ not on this list? That is ridiculous.
Also, “Some academic circles distinguish between anti-utopia and dystopia. As in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopia does not pretend to be utopian, while an anti-utopia appears to be utopian or was intended to be so, but a fatal flaw or other factor has destroyed or twisted the intended utopian world or concept”
The Giver is not listed because it’s trash. I have read it and despise it.
In my opinion, 1984 is far superior to Brave New World, both in concept and in language. This may be because I found 1984 to be much easier to follow, yet eloquent and rather deep.
The metaphors and *****ogies Orwell creates are second to none. 2 + 2 = 5 is, without a doubt, the greatest of these.
Additionally, I favor 1984 because of it is much more thought-provoking. Brave New World is great, but I think about 1984 all the time. It changed me. I use Newspeak sometimes, without even thinking.
The principles of doublethink tear up hypnopaedia as a method of control as far as I’m concerned.
Don’t get me wrong, though. I love Brave New World. But I think 1984 is better. (I haven’t read Farenheit 451, so no comment there.)
I’m working on The Handmaid’s Tale, despite being continuously warned not to read it by teachers, etc. I don’t care. It’s fantastic, too.
Also, if it weren’t for the technicality, Lord of the Flies should be much higher up. Either 2, 3 or 4 (because of 451, and Brave New World being great).
By the way, Lord of the Flies and 1984 are, in my opinion, two of the best books ever written.
where was ‘we’ by euvgeny zamyatin?? i thought that book was incredible
I definitely agree with the top two…amazing reads!!!
Brave New world no.1; so deserves it, best dystopian novel I’ve ever read, then again I have only read three of those on there
I love 1984, and I would have personally put it at number one. Despite this personal opinion, I can see how BNW is number one.
But I am sad to see the omission of A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, and The Giver by Lois Lowry on the list. Those are all great books.
Parable of the Sower?
I read through your whole list and did not find mention of “The Road”–Cormac McCarthy Pulitzer prize winning novel(2007) until I got to comment 171..Glad to see someone else feels like I do about this wonderfully written book about the end of society