Now I need to try and figure out what I've read that could be considered dystopian. Think I'll just let wikipedia guide my choices here to make things a little easier!
The Time Machine ~ H G Wells
The First Men in the Moon ~ H G Wells
Nineteen Eighty-Four ~ George Orwell
A World Out of Time ~ Larry Niven
Neuromancer ~ William Gibson
The Handmaid's Tale ~ Margaret Atwood
Random Acts of Senseless Violence ~ Jack Womack (which isn't on the wiki list but most definitely qualifies!)
And to stray into comics I'd call V for Vendetta and The Dark Knight Returns dystopian. Probably not strictly literature though
.
I also have The Dispossed by Ursala K. Le Guin and Children of Men by P D James sitting upstairs waiting for me to get to them.
On top of that there's been various random Sci-Fi books/shorts that I've read but that I'd struggle to name as well as many of Clark Ashton-Smith's short stories.
This one I'm going to struggle to answer. Every book I listed up there is good and the time period since reading many of them is long enough that I couldn't realistically rank them in any order.
See the answer to #2
The most disturbing would probably be a 3 way tie between Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Handmaid's Tale and Random Acts of Senseless Violence. If pushed I'd probably give Nineteen Eighty-Four the edge because of the uniquely British focus but all 3 are nicely fucked up in their own ways. And in all cases the thing that makes them disturbing is that you can see echoes of those societies (and sometimes rather more than echoes) in the world of today and the attitudes of its people. It's that feeling that what is depicted in those books, or at least something very like it, could potentially happen for real that makes them chilling.
Not thus far. In fact I really rather like the genre.
No although it was on the wiki list and so may have to be added to my list of stuff to check out in the future (it's a long list, history has produced many, many fine books, too many for one person with a hectic life to ever read.)
1. What dystopian literature have you read?
The Time Machine ~ H G Wells
The First Men in the Moon ~ H G Wells
Nineteen Eighty-Four ~ George Orwell
A World Out of Time ~ Larry Niven
Neuromancer ~ William Gibson
The Handmaid's Tale ~ Margaret Atwood
Random Acts of Senseless Violence ~ Jack Womack (which isn't on the wiki list but most definitely qualifies!)
And to stray into comics I'd call V for Vendetta and The Dark Knight Returns dystopian. Probably not strictly literature though
.I also have The Dispossed by Ursala K. Le Guin and Children of Men by P D James sitting upstairs waiting for me to get to them.
On top of that there's been various random Sci-Fi books/shorts that I've read but that I'd struggle to name as well as many of Clark Ashton-Smith's short stories.
2. Which was your favorite, and why?
This one I'm going to struggle to answer. Every book I listed up there is good and the time period since reading many of them is long enough that I couldn't realistically rank them in any order.
3. Which was your least favorite, and why?
See the answer to #2
4. Which did you find most disturbing, and why?
The most disturbing would probably be a 3 way tie between Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Handmaid's Tale and Random Acts of Senseless Violence. If pushed I'd probably give Nineteen Eighty-Four the edge because of the uniquely British focus but all 3 are nicely fucked up in their own ways. And in all cases the thing that makes them disturbing is that you can see echoes of those societies (and sometimes rather more than echoes) in the world of today and the attitudes of its people. It's that feeling that what is depicted in those books, or at least something very like it, could potentially happen for real that makes them chilling.
5. Do you find it hard to read some dystopian literature because it is so disturbing?
Not thus far. In fact I really rather like the genre.
Currently I'm reading Zamyatin's We. Anyone else ever read it? Thoughts?
No although it was on the wiki list and so may have to be added to my list of stuff to check out in the future (it's a long list, history has produced many, many fine books, too many for one person with a hectic life to ever read.)
Bitter, twisted and better than you.
Dystopian literature
- 05/09/2009 09:12:16 PM
1130 Views
Oh, nice survey.
- 05/09/2009 11:08:55 PM
794 Views
Thanks 
- 06/09/2009 04:35:03 AM
818 Views
- 06/09/2009 04:35:03 AM
818 Views
Click the right-most box next to the Smiley Codes, between the Subject and Body.
- 06/09/2009 12:14:35 PM
712 Views
Crikey...
- 05/09/2009 11:11:59 PM
821 Views
Amen to that last.
- 06/09/2009 04:40:26 AM
848 Views
Incidentally
- 06/09/2009 08:02:12 AM
739 Views
I like dystopian and post-apocalyptic stories
- 06/09/2009 07:50:08 PM
966 Views
I prefer dystopian, myself.
- 07/09/2009 03:21:51 AM
855 Views
The problem with post-apocalyptic stories is that there are so many which are utter crap.
- 07/09/2009 05:28:02 PM
762 Views
Yes, yes.
- 07/09/2009 08:34:11 PM
733 Views
Oh dear. I went and mixed up I-330 and O-90.
- 08/09/2009 03:19:21 AM
857 Views
- 08/09/2009 04:28:24 PM
768 Views
- 08/09/2009 04:28:24 PM
768 Views
Re: Dystopian literature
- 06/09/2009 08:48:48 PM
814 Views
Your left brain is blank? 
- 07/09/2009 03:25:44 AM
769 Views
- 07/09/2009 03:25:44 AM
769 Views
*NM*
Re: Dystopian literature
- 08/09/2009 07:30:58 PM
1383 Views
Hey! Good to see you on this board!
- 08/09/2009 08:03:04 PM
899 Views
Well I couldn't stay away forever now could I?
- 08/09/2009 08:42:37 PM
1016 Views
Re: Well I couldn't stay away forever now could I?
- 09/09/2009 03:13:33 PM
996 Views
I never thought of the Forever War as Dystopian but I guess it could be called that
- 14/09/2009 04:43:27 PM
797 Views
I'll join this party...rather late...but oh well
- 09/09/2009 07:59:26 PM
763 Views