A dystopia (from Ancient Greek) is a community or society that is undesirable or frightening. It is translated as “not-good place” and is an antonym of utopia, a term that was coined by Sir Thomas More and figures as the title of his best known work, Utopia, published 1516, a blueprint for an ideal society with minimal crime, violence and poverty.
The literary world has shown great interest in dystopia and over the last 100 years many dystopic books have been published. In this article, we recommend you to read the 10 most known and popular dystopic books in the history of literature in the first opportunity.
Iron Hell by Jack London
Jack London’s Iron Heel, published in 1907, is considered to be the first of modern counter-utopian novels. The concept of counter-utopia used to define society in the totalitarian and oppressive system is reflected in this book in the rise of an oligarchic tyranny in the United States. He also inspired George Orwell’s novel Nine Hundred and Eighty-Four, examining future changes in society and politics.
Although Jack London’s prediction of a future collapse in the United States has not been fully realized, his views on international tensions coincide with actual history, albeit a few years later. This conflict, which started in 1913 at Demir Ökçe, actually broke out in 1914. Moreover, London predicted not only what happened in 1914, but also events that led to the Second World War; He expressed how the fascist structure will lead the world to horror and how the revolutionary stance against it should be. Unfortunately, the passing time confirms the prophecies of London.
We by Yevgeni Zamyatin
This novel, which points to the danger of totalitarianism, describes the negativities of such a society. Zamyatin, the pioneer and inspirer of writers such as G. Orwell and A. Huxley, turned anti-utopia into a radical weapon of criticism, pointing to the danger of totalitarianism with Biz, which he wrote long before them. Zamyatin Biz, who is against an integrated, finished society, describes the negativities of such a society. In the novel that took place in the 26th century, man was separated from nature and his “I” and “We” became surrendered to technology and bureaucratic state. There is no personality…
People have numbers, not names. Every minute of the people living behind transparent glass walls are determined and controlled by the state. Male and female numbers only have the right to download the curtains when they visit each other with the permits at predetermined sex hours. Zamyatin has become one of the most radical figures of his generation, opposing official views, arguing that “true literature can be realized not by trusted and diligent officials, but only by contradictory and insurgent spirits, madmen and dreamers.”
Big Brother promises neither freedom nor happiness to people; there is no salvation for anyone. The argument that Zamyatin brings is that freedom and happiness are identical concepts for the person who thinks and dreams.(…) Freedom does not have to be pregnant with unhappiness in Zamyatin. It is painful to rebel, to struggle with the usual, but it is more difficult to live as “yesterday today, today today”. Zamyatin’s utopia is a continuous struggle; today, always looking at the eyes of tomorrow, self-established, from the moment it began to institutionalize a struggle carried out by demolishing again. Utopia is a horizon for Zamyatin; it is approached continuously but cannot be reached. “We have” is to surrender, the real questions are “Why” and “So what then?”
Trial by Franz Kafka
The age of fear called the 20th century. This is the story of the impossible destiny of human beings. The Trial is the story of the besieged life of mankind in the 20th century, which is called the Age of Fear, which has become an almost impossible destiny.
Fear is dominant in this era, because man is deprived of the possibility of communicating with his fellow human beings through a human language and arousing human reactions in such a language.
In the words of Albert Camus, an age without this possibility can only be called “Age of Fear”.
Kafka’s trial in the case is one of the most powerful symbols of such an era, and as long as his work remains the fear of man, it will never be outdated.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
It demonstrates the powerful description of a pessimistic future design to readers in a solid manner. “Brave New World” leads us to “632 after Ford”. The brave people of this world are produced at the Central Incubation and Conditioning Center in London, which says “Community, Identity, Stability” at the gate. Because women’s fertilization is forbidden and shameful, “motherhood” and “fatherhood” are seen as pornographic concepts. ”
The importance of the “Brave New World” is not only about setting a standard for its successors and a powerful depiction of a pessimistic future design, but also about a solid style narrative of the ‘adventure, even if the individual is destroyed’. Huxley takes his work out of the dry narrative of the utopian tradition and raises it to the category of ‘good literature’.
Swastika Night by Katharine Burdakin
This novel, seen as one of the most important feminist works, warns its readers about the dangers of fascism. Our modern societies are shifting from day to day to totalitarian regimes, and what philosopher Slavoj Zizek says is what awaits us in a time when we are all in the minds of the endless marriage between capitalism and democracy. If humanity cannot read the signs from this future and change this future, can there be a fascist world that Katharine Burdekin fictionalized 80 years ago?
In this world, where violence and treachery give men status and women are reduced to the quality of breeding animals, there is one thing that everyone worships jointly: LEADER. This novel, written in 1937 while Hitler was still alive, was forgotten for a long time but came back on the agenda in the 1980s. Among the great dystopic novels such as “1984” and “Brave New World”, Swastika Night is considered one of the most important feminist works. Excerpts from the preface:
“After seven hundred years of Nazi hegemony in Swastika Night, Burdekin dreamed of a Europe, doing more than warning about the dangers of fascism. Burdekin, who claims to be quantitatively different from the usual reality, not a quality that polarizes men and women in terms of gender roles, bore the er masculine ve and il feminine. forms of behavior. In addition to strong arguments against the cult of masculinity, this connection distinguishes Burdekin’s book from many other anti-fascist counter-utopian books written in the 1930s and 1940s.”
1984 by George Orwell
This novel, designed to the finest detail, is a nightmare scenario for the future. 1984- Nineteen Eighty Four is George Orwel’s political novel. The book was written in 1947-48. His name was thought to be Son The Last Man in Europe.. However, with the intervention of the publisher, the more commercially available name was introduced. It was first published in 1949. In short, it is a critique of fascist-oppressive power.
Orwell also discussed similar issues in his novel The Animal Farm, which we have examined earlier. He exhibited the greatest predictions of corrupt power as an anti-fascist and anti-communist. I have briefly examined the concept of Room 101, the Thought Police, 2 + 2 = 5, Thoughtfulness, Tele-screen, Goldstein’s book, Two-Hate, and No-One. Along with the Animal Farm and another dystopian novel, The Brave New World, I’ve been advising on similar topics.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradburry
Totalitarian administrations, the cultural industry and for a long time one of the sharpest criticisms of our lifestyle. In an uncertain future, in special fireproof garments, ‘firefighters’ burn the books they have seized at home with hoses containing kerosene instead of water during raids on some houses. This is the only duty of ‘firefighters’. Guy Montag, a firefighter who loves his job, meets a young girl and starts to wake up to questions he has never questioned.
What are books like, and what are these books where people are willing to burn together? Montag begins to evaluate his work, his wife and his whole life from another perspective. He thinks of books and senses the existence of a human being behind every book, because every person has thought and created them. Montag then starts to steal books from the houses he enters to burn, and as a result of the events, he becomes an illegal, wanted criminal.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Considered as a social prophecy, this novel creates a future atmosphere about the study of free will.
A Clockwork Orange is one of Anthony Burgess’ best works. The original name of the work is A Clockwork Orange. The work was translated into Turkish by Aziz Üstel. The work reflects the pangs of modernization and change in those years (1960s), and questions how free or oppressed individuals should be and the consequences. And it tells the reader in the life of the hero of the work.
Already in 1971, the film tells the hero that he is constantly narrating his own life. Transferred to the big screen by Stanley Kubrick, the book has earned its place among the cult film classics it deserves. The novel, which approaches a gang formed by a group of young people with a British sense of humor, is quite ambitious for the period in which it was written. Issues such as direct violence, drug addiction, etc. have been handled in a simple manner. Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation was one of the most successful novel – film adaptations in film history.
About the author book; The most clever of all animals, I can do nothing but attack my mankind who knows what good means by applying a method of oppression to those who turn it into an automatic machine with my sword as sharp as a sword.
The Hunger Games / Catching Fire / Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
A modern and eerie saga of the necessity of love, consciousness, organization and rebellion against a victorious and repressive authority in an uncertain future.
The Hunger Games is a youth novel published in 2008 by American author Suzanne Collins. The novel is narrated from 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the post-apocalyptic Panem in North America in a distant and uncertain future. The people are led by the Capitol, a developed city. “The Hunger Games” is a television program in which a 12-18 year old girl and boy, selected from the country’s twelve districts, fights until the single person and is presented as a visual feast by the people of the capitol.
The book received positive feedback from critics and writers (eg Stephen King). Although some critics say the book is in some ways similar to Collins’ previous work and the 1993 Japanese novel Battle Royale, the story’s story and characters are generally appreciated. Collins was inspired by Greek mythology and contemporary Reality shows. The book won several awards, including California Young Reader Medal, and was named one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly in 2008.
The Hunger Games was first published in hardcover on September 14, 2008, by Tim O’Brien with his cover design by Scholastic. Later, it was published as paperback, audiobook and e-book. After the first edition of 200,000, the book sold 800,000 copies by February 2010, translated into 26 languages and published in 38 countries. It is the first novel of the Hunger Games trilogy. The other two books are Catching Fire and Mockingjay, respectively. The book was adapted to cinema in 2012. Directed by Gary Ross, Collins was a co-writer and producer.
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