List of dystopian literature
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of notable works of dystopian literature. A dystopia is an unpleasant (typically repressive) society, often propagandized as being utopian. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction states that dystopian works depict a negative view of "the way the world is supposedly going in order to provide urgent propaganda for a change in direction."[1][2]
- Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift[3]
19th century
- The Last Man (1826) by Mary Shelley[4]
- A Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation (1835) by Oliver Bolokitten[5][6]
- The Tragedy of Man (1862) by Imre Madách[citation needed]
- Notes from Underground (1864) by Fyodor Dostoevsky[citation needed]
- The History of a Town (1870) by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin[citation needed]
- Vril, the Power of the Coming Race (1871) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, originally printed as The Coming Race[7]
- Erewhon (1872) by Samuel Butler[citation needed]
- The Begum's Fortune (1879) by Jules Verne[1]
- The Fixed Period (1882) by Anthony Trollope[citation needed]
- The Republic of the Future (1887) by Anna Bowman Dodd[8]
- The Inner House (1888) by Walter Besant[citation needed]
- A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder (1888) by James De Mille[9]
- Caesar's Column (1890) by Ignatius L. Donnelly[10]
- Pictures of the Socialistic Future (1891) by Eugen Richter[11][unreliable source]
- "The Repairer of Reputations" (1895) by Robert W. Chambers[12]
- The Time Machine (1895) by H. G. Wells[13]
- When The Sleeper Wakes (1899) by H. G. Wells[1]
20th century
1900s
- The First Men in the Moon (1901) by H. G. Wells[1]
- The Purple Cloud (1901) by M. P. Shiel[citation needed]
- The Iron Heel (1908) by Jack London[1][6]
- Lord of the World (1908) by Robert Hugh Benson[citation needed]
- The Machine Stops (1909) by E. M. Forster[1]
- The Lunar Trilogy (1911) by Jerzy Żuławski[14]
1910s
- The Night Land (1912) by William Hope Hodgson[citation needed]
- When William Came (1913) by Saki as a future history, this is among the earliest of Pax Germanica genre[citation needed]
- Meccania (1918) by "Owen Gregory"(pseudonym)[citation needed]
- The Heads of Cerberus (1919) by "Francis Stevens" (Gertrude Barrows Bennett)[15]
1920s
- R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots (1921) by Karel Čapek[16]
- We (1921) by Yevgeny Zamyatin[1]
- Love in the Fog of the Future (1923 or 1924) by Andrei Marsov[citation needed]
- Miasto światłości (1924) by Mieczysław Smolarski[citation needed]
- The Trial (written in 1914 but first published in 1925) by Franz Kafka[citation needed]
- O Presidente Negro (1926) by Monteiro Lobato[citation needed]
1930s
- The Foundation Pit (1930) by Andrei Platonov[17]
- Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley[1]
- Cat Country (1932/1933) by Lao She[18]
- It Can't Happen Here (1935) by Sinclair Lewis
- War with the Newts (1936) by Karel Čapek[19]
- Swastika Night (1937) by Katharine Burdekin[15][20]
- Anthem (1938) by Ayn Rand[1][21]
- Invitation to a Beheading (1938) by Vladimir Nabokov[22]
1940s
- Darkness at Noon (1940) by Arthur Koestler[23]
- "If This Goes On—" (1940) by Robert A. Heinlein[1]
- Kallocain (1940) by Karin Boye[24]
- The Moon Is Down (1942) by John Steinbeck[citation needed]
- That Hideous Strength (1945) by C. S. Lewis[21]
- Peace In Our Time (1946) by Noël Coward[citation needed]
- Bend Sinister (1947) by Vladimir Nabokov[25]
- Ape and Essence (1948) by Aldous Huxley[1]
- Some Time Never: A Fable for Supermen (1948) by Roald Dahl[citation needed]
- The World of Null-A (1948) by A. E. van Vogt[citation needed]
- Heliopolis (1949) by Ernst Jünger[citation needed]
- Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell[26]
1950s
- Player Piano (1952) by Kurt Vonnegut[27]
- The Sound of His Horn (1952) by Sarban[citation needed]
- Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury[1]
- Love Among the Ruins (1953) by Evelyn Waugh[21]
- One (1953) by David Karp[citation needed]
- The Space Merchants (1953) by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth[28]
- The Caves of Steel (1954) by Isaac Asimov[citation needed]
- Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding[29][unreliable source]
- The Chrysalids (1955) by John Wyndham[29][unreliable source]
- The City and the Stars (1956) by Arthur C. Clarke[citation needed]
- Minority Report (1956) by Philip K. Dick[citation needed]
- The World Jones Made (1956) by Philip K. Dick[citation needed]
- Atlas Shrugged (1957) by Ayn Rand[citation needed]
- The Naked Sun (1957) by Isaac Asimov[citation needed]
- The Rise of the Meritocracy (1958) by Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington[citation needed]
- Alas, Babylon (1959) by Pat Frank[citation needed]
- A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) by Walter M. Miller Jr.[citation needed]
- The John Franklin Letters (1959) by anonymous (probably Revilo P. Oliver)[6]
1960s
- Dr. Futurity (1960) by Philip K. Dick[citation needed]
- Facial Justice (1960) by L. P. Hartley[30]
- Vulcan's Hammer (1960) by Philip K. Dick[citation needed]
- "Harrison Bergeron" (1961) by Kurt Vonnegut[31]
- Powrót z gwiazd (1961) by Stanisław Lem[citation needed]
- The Old Men at the Zoo (1961) by Angus Wilson[32]
- A Clockwork Orange (1962) by Anthony Burgess[1]
- The Man in the High Castle (1962) by Philip K. Dick [citation needed]
- The Wanting Seed (1962) by Anthony Burgess[citation needed]
- The Game-Players of Titan (1963) by Philip K. Dick[citation needed]
- Planet of the Apes (1963) by Pierre Boulle[citation needed]
- Farnham's Freehold (1964) by Robert A. Heinlein[citation needed]
- Nova Express (1964) by William S. Burroughs[1]
- The Penultimate Truth (1964) by Philip K. Dick[1]
- The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1964) by Philip K. Dick[citation needed]
- "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman (1965) by Harlan Ellison[citation needed]
- The Crack in Space (1966) by Philip K. Dick[citation needed]
- The Dream Master (1966) by Roger Zelazny[citation needed]
- Make Room! Make Room! (1966) by Harry Harrison[1]
- Now Wait for Last Year (1966) by Philip K. Dick[citation needed]
- Snail on the Slope (1966) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky[citation needed]
- "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison (1967) (post-apocalyptic with elements of dystopia)[citation needed]
- Logan's Run (1967) by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson[citation needed]
- The Time Hoppers (1967) by Robert Silverberg
- The White Mountains (1967) by John Christopher[1]
- Why Call Them Back from Heaven? (1967) by Clifford D. Simak[citation needed]
- A Very Private Life (1968) by Michael Frayn[33]
- Camp Concentration (1968) by Thomas M. Disch[32]
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) by Philip K. Dick[citation needed]
- Stand on Zanzibar (1968) by John Brunner[1]
- Synthajoy (1968) by D. G. Compton[citation needed]
- The Jagged Orbit (1969) by John Brunner[1]
1970s
- This Perfect Day (1970) by Ira Levin[34]
- The Guardians (1970) by John Christopher[citation needed]
- The Lorax (1971) by Dr. Seuss[citation needed]
- The Lathe of Heaven (1971) by Ursula K. Le Guin[35]
- Los Angeles: AD 2017 (1971) by Phillip Wylie[citation needed]
- The World Inside (1971) by Robert Silverberg[citation needed]
- 334 (1972) by Thomas M. Disch[15]
- The Sheep Look Up (1972) by John Brunner[1]
- The Iron Dream (1972) by Norman Spinrad[citation needed]
- The Camp of the Saints (1973) by Jean Raspail[36][37][38]
- The Ultimate Solution by Eric Norden (1973)[citation needed]
- Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (1974) by Philip K. Dick[39]
- Walk to the End of the World (1974) by Suzy McKee Charnas[1]
- Dhalgren (1975) by Samuel R. Delany[citation needed]
- The Forever War (1975) by Joe Haldeman[citation needed]
- The Girl Who Owned a City (1975) by O. T. Nelson[citation needed]
- High-Rise (1975) by J. G. Ballard[citation needed]
- The Shockwave Rider (1975) by John Brunner[1]
- Don't Bite the Sun (1976) by Tanith Lee[citation needed]
- Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) by Marge Piercy[1]
- The Dark Tower[40] (1977) – unfinished, attributed to C. S. Lewis,[40] published as The Dark Tower and Other Stories
- A Scanner Darkly (1977) by Philip K. Dick[41]
- The Eye of the Heron (1978) by Ursula K. Le Guin[citation needed]
- SS-GB by Len Deighton (1978)[citation needed]
- The Stand (1978) by Stephen King[citation needed]
- 1985 (1978) by Anthony Burgess[citation needed]
- The Turner Diaries (1978) by Andrew Macdonald
- Alongside Night (1979) by J. Neil Schulman[42]
- The Long Walk (1979) by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman[citation needed]
1980s
- Mockingbird (1980) by Walter Tevis[citation needed]
- Riddley Walker (1980) by Russell Hoban[43][44]
- Lanark: A Life in Four Books (1981) by Alasdair Gray[45]
- Limes inferior (1982) by Janusz Zajdel[citation needed]
- The Running Man (1982) by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman[29][unreliable source]
- HaDerekh LeEin Harod (1984) by Amos Kenan[citation needed]
- Paradyzja (1984) by Janusz Zajdel[citation needed]
- Sprawl trilogy: Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson[29]
- Count Zero (1986) by William Gibson[citation needed]
- Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) by William Gibson[46][47]
- Dayworld (1985) by Philip José Farmer[citation needed]
- The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood[1]
- In the Country of Last Things (1985) by Paul Auster[citation needed]
- Moscow 2042 (1986) by Vladimir Voinovich[48]
- Sea of Glass (1986) by Barry B. Longyear[citation needed]
- Obernewtyn Chronicles (1987–2008) by Isobelle Carmody[49]
- The Domination (1988) by S. M. Stirling[50]
- The Proteus Operation (1985) by James P. Hogan[citation needed]
- The Divide (1980) by William Overgard[citation needed]
- To the Stars trilogy (1980) by Harry Harrison[citation needed]
1990s
Fiction
- Clash of Eagles (1990) by Leo Rutman[citation needed]
- The Dark Beyond the Stars (1991) by Frank M. Robinson[citation needed]
- Timewyrm: Exodus (1991) by Terrance Dicks[citation needed]
- Serpent's Walk (1991) by Randolph D. Calverhall[6]
- The War in 2020 (1991) by Ralph Peters[51]
- The Children of Men (1992) by P. D. James[52]
- Fatherland by Robert Harris (1992)[53][citation needed]
- Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Stephenson[54]
- Parable of the Sower (1993) by Octavia E. Butler[citation needed]
- Virtual Light (1993) by William Gibson[citation needed]
- Vurt (1993) by Jeff Noon[citation needed]
- Paris in the Twentieth Century (written in1863 but first published in 1994) by Jules Verne[citation needed]
- The Memory Police (1994) by Yōko Ogawa[citation needed]
- The Diamond Age (1994) by Neal Stephenson[55]
- Gun, with Occasional Music (1994) by Jonathan Lethem[56]
- Amnesia Moon (1995) by Jonathan Lethem[citation needed]
- '48 (1996) by James Herbert[citation needed]
- Attentatet i Pålsjö skog (1996) by Hans Alfredson[citation needed]
- Infinite Jest (1996) by David Foster Wallace[citation needed]
- Battle Royale (1999) by Koushun Takami[57]
- Forever Free (1999) by Joe Haldeman[citation needed]
- The Ice People (1999) by Maggie Gee[citation needed]
Young adult fiction
- The Giver (1993) by Lois Lowry[58]
- Shade's Children (1997) by Garth Nix[citation needed]
- Among the Hidden (Shadow Children #1) (1998) by Margaret Peterson Haddix[citation needed]
