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List of dystopian literature

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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." It is a common literary theme.

Contents

16th century

  • Mundus Alter et Idem (1595) by Joseph Hall - a roundly negative critique of English society presented as a satirical utopia

    • 18th century

  • Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift

    • 19th century

  • A Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation, in the Year of Our Lord, 19-- (1835) by Oliver Bolokitten
  • The World As It Shall Be (1846) by Émile Souvestre
  • Paris in the Twentieth Century (1863) by Jules Verne
  • Vril, the Power of the Coming Race (1871) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, originally printed as The Coming Race
  • Erewhon (1872) by Samuel Butler
  • The Begum's Fortune (1879) by Jules Verne
  • The Fixed Period (1882) by Anthony Trollope
  • The Republic of the Future (1887) by Anna Bowman Dodd
  • Looking Backward (1888), by Edward Bellamy.
  • The Inner House (1888) by Walter Besant
  • Caesar's Column (1890) by Ignatius L. Donnelly
  • Pictures of the Socialistic Future (1890) by Eugen Richter
  • "The Repairer of Reputations" (1895) by Robert W. Chambers
  • The Time Machine (1895) by H. G. Wells
  • When The Sleeper Wakes (1899) by H. G. Wells

    • 1900s

  • The First Men in the Moon (1901) by H. G. Wells
  • The Purple Cloud (1901) by M. P. Shiel
  • Trylogia Księżycowa (1901-1911) by Jerzy Żuławski
  • Stradija (1902) by Radoje Domanović
  • The Iron Heel (1908) by Jack London
  • Lord of the World (1908) by Robert Hugh Benson
  • The Machine Stops (1909) by E. M. Forster

    • 1910s

  • Unknown Tomorrow (1910) by William Le Queux
  • Philip Dru: Administrator (1912) by (Edward Mandell House)
  • The Air Trust (1915) by George Allan England
  • What Not! (1918) by Rose Macaulay
  • City of Endless Night (as "Children of Kultur") (1919) by Milo Hastings
  • Crucible Island (1919) by Condé B. Pallen
  • The Heads of Cerberus (1919) by "Francis Stevens" (Gertrude Barrows Bennett)

    • 1920s

  • Useless Hands (1920) by Claude Farrère
  • R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots (1921) by Karel Čapek
  • We (1921) by Yevgeny Zamyatin
  • Krakatit (1924) by Karel Čapek
  • The Trial (1925) by Franz Kafka
  • Man's World (1926) by Charlotte Haldane
  • Right Off the Map (1927) by C. E. Montague
  • The Revolt of the Pedestrians (1928) by David H. Keller
  • Chevengur (1929) by Andrei Platonov

    • 1930s

  • The City of the Living Dead (1930) by Laurence Manning and Fletcher Pratt
  • Concrete: A Story of Two Hundred Years Hence (1930) by Aelfrida Tillyard
  • The Foundation Pit (1930) by Andrei Platonov
  • No Traveller Returns (1931) by John Collier
  • The Approaching Storm (1932) by Aelfrida Tillyard
  • Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley
  • The New Gods Lead (1932) by S. Fowler Wright
  • The Astonishing Island (1933) by Winifred Holtby
  • To Tell The Truth... (1933) by Amabel Williams-Ellis
  • War Upon Women (1934) by Maboth Moseley
  • It Can't Happen Here (1935) by Sinclair Lewis
  • Land Under England (1935) by Joseph O'Neill
  • We Have Been Warned (1935) by Naomi Mitchison
  • In the Second Year (1936) by Storm Jameson
  • London's Burning: A Novel for the Decline and Fall of the Liberal Age (1936) by Barbara Wootton
  • War with the Newts (1936) by Karel Čapek
  • Swastika Night (1937) by Katharine Burdekin
  • The Wild Goose Chase (1937) by Rex Warner
  • Anthem (1938) by Ayn Rand
  • Invitation to a Beheading (1938) by Vladimir Nabokov
  • "Year Nine" (1938) by Cyril Connolly (reprinted in The Condemned Playground, 1945)
  • The Arrogant History of White Ben (1939) by Clemence Dane
  • Impromptu in Moribundia (1939) by Patrick Hamilton
  • Over the Mountain (1939) by Ruthven Todd

    • 1940s

  • Darkness at Noon (1940) by Arthur Koestler
  • "If This Goes On—" (1940) by Robert A. Heinlein
  • Kallocain (1940) by Karin Boye
  • The Aerodrome (1941) by Rex Warner
  • Then We Shall Hear Singing (1942) by Storm Jameson
  • Cities of the Plain (1943) by Alex Comfort
  • The Lost Traveller (1943) by Ruthven Todd
  • The Riddle of the Tower (1944) by J. D. Beresford and Esmé Wynne-Tyson
  • Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell
  • That Hideous Strength (1945) by C.S. Lewis
  • Bend Sinister (1947) by Vladimir Nabokov
  • Doppelgangers (1947) by Gerald Heard
  • Ape and Essence (1948) by Aldous Huxley
  • Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948) by George Orwell
  • Sometime Never: A Fable for Supermen (1948) by Roald Dahl
  • The Moment of Truth (1949) by Storm Jameson

    • 1950s

  • Limbo (vt. Limbo 90) (1952) by Bernard Wolfe
  • Player Piano (also known as Utopia 14) (1952) by Kurt Vonnegut
  • Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury
  • Love Among the Ruins (1953) by Evelyn Waugh
  • One (also published as Escape to Nowhere) (1953) by David Karp
  • The Space Merchants (1953) by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth
  • Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding
  • The Chrysalids (1955) by John Wyndham
  • The City and the Stars (1956) by Arthur C. Clarke
  • The Golden Archer: A Satirical Novel of 1975 (1956) by Gregory Mason
  • Minority Report (1956) by Philip K. Dick
  • Atlas Shrugged (1957) by Ayn Rand
  • The Gates of Ivory, The Gates of Horn (1957) by Thomas McGrath
  • The Rise of the Meritocracy (1958) by Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington
  • Alas, Babylon (1959) by Pat Frank
  • A Canticle for Liebowitz (1959) by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

    • 1960s

  • Facial Justice (1960) by L. P. Hartley
  • "Harrison Bergeron" (1961) by Kurt Vonnegut
  • The Joy Makers (1961) by James Gunn
  • The Old Men at the Zoo (1961) by Angus Wilson
  • A Clockwork Orange (1962) by Anthony Burgess
  • The Wanting Seed (1962) by Anthony Burgess
  • The Eleventh Commandment (1962) by Lester del Rey
  • Planet of the Apes (1963) by Pierre Boulle
  • Cloud on Silver (US title Sweeney's Island) (1964) by John Christopher
  • Farnham's Freehold (1964) by Robert A. Heinlein
  • Nova Express (1964) by William S. Burroughs
  • The Penultimate Truth (1964) by Philip K. Dick
  • Epp (1965) by Axel Jensen
  • "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman (1965) by Harlan Ellison
  • Eight Against Utopia (original title:From Carthage Then I Came) (1966) by John Rankine
  • Make Room! Make Room! (1966) by Harry Harrison
  • "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison (1967) (post-apocalyptic with elements of dystopia)
  • Logan's Run (1967) by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson
  • The White Mountains (1967) by John Christopher
  • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) by Philip K. Dick
  • Camp Concentration (1968) by Thomas M. Disch
  • The City of Gold and Lead (1968) by John Christopher
  • The Pool of Fire (1968) by John Christopher
  • Stand on Zanzibar (1968) by John Brunner
  • A Very Private Life (1968) by Michael Frayn
  • The Jagged Orbit (1969) by John Brunner

    • 1970s

  • The Bodyguard (1970) by Adrian Mitchell
  • This Perfect Day (1970) by Ira Levin
  • The Lorax (1971) by Dr. Seuss
  • The Lathe of Heaven (1971) by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Los Angeles: AD 2017 (1971) by Phillip Wylie
  • The World Inside (1971) by Robert Silverberg
  • 334 (1972) by Thomas M. Disch
  • The Sheep Look Up (1972) by John Brunner
  • Bad Moon Rising (1973), anthology edited by Thomas M. Disch
  • The Camp of the Saints (Le Camp des Saints) (1973) by Jean Raspail
  • The Dispossessed (1974) by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (1974) by Philip K. Dick
  • My Petition for More Space (1974) by John Hersey
  • Walk to the End of the World (1974) by Suzy McKee Charnas
  • The Girl Who Owned a City (1975) by O. T. Nelson
  • High-Rise (1975) by JG Ballard
  • The Shockwave Rider (1975) by John Brunner
  • Solution Three (1975) by Naomi Mitchison
  • Don't Bite the Sun (1976) by Tanith Lee
  • Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) by Marge Piercy
  • The Dark Tower (1977) – unfinished, attributed to C.S. Lewis, published as The Dark Tower and Other Stories
  • Manalone (1977) by Colin Kapp
  • A Scanner Darkly' (1977) by Philip K. Dick
  • Alongside Night (1979) by J. Neil Schulman
  • The Long Walk (1979) by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman

    • 1980s

  • Mockingbird (1980) by Walter Tevis
  • Riddley Walker (1980) by Russell Hoban
  • Lanark: A Life in Four Books (1981) by Alasdair Gray
  • The Running Man (1982) by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman
  • HaDerekh LeEin Harod (1984) by Amos Kenan. 1984 saw the appearance of the first Israeli dystopian novel, and this one appeared shortly after. Like other Israeli dystopian novels, it is concerned with the religious right taking control of the Jewish state.
  • Sprawl trilogy: Neuromancer (1984), Count Zero (1986) and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) by William Gibson
  • Dayworld (1985) by Philip Jose Farmer
  • The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood
  • In the Country of Last Things (1985) by Paul Auster
  • Moscow 2042 (1986) by Vladimir Voynovich
  • Obernewtyn Chronicles (1987–2008) by Isobelle Carmody
  • The Domination (1988) by S. M. Stirling
  • The Sykaos Papers (1988) by E. P. Thompson
  • When the Tripods Came (1988) by John Christopher
  • Childe Rolande (1989) by Samantha Lee

    • Fiction

  • The War in 2020 by Ralph Peters (Pocket Books, 1991)
  • The Children of Men (1992) by P.D. James (Faber and Faber, 1992)
  • Fatherland by Robert Harris (Hutchinson, 1992)
  • Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (Bantam Spectra, 1992)
  • Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993)
  • Virtual Light (1993) by William Gibson (Bantam Spectra, 1993)
  • The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson (Bantam Spectra, 1994)
  • Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem (Harcourt Brace & Co., 1994)
  • Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (Little, Brown, 1996)
  • Underworld by Don DeLillo (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1997)
  • Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (Ohta Publishing, 1999)
  • The Ice People by Maggie Gee (Richard Cohen Books, 1999)
  • '48 by James Herbert (1996)
  • Against the Day by Michael Cronin (1999)
  • Attentatet i Pålsjö skog by Hans Alfredson (1996)
  • Axis of Time, series by John Birmingham (2004-2007)
  • The Big Time by Fritz Leiber (1957)
  • Clash of Eagles by Leo Rutman (1990)
  • Collaborator by Murray Davies (2003)
  • The Divide by William Overgard (1980)
  • Dominion by C. J. Sansom (2012)
  • Farthing, Ha'penny, and Half a Crown, series by Jo Walton (2006–2008)
  • Fatherland, by Robert Harris (1992)
  • In the Presence of Mine Enemies by Harry Turtledove (2003, the first 21 pages were originally a short story published in 1992)
  • The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad depicts a sci-fi/fantasy allegory of an Axis victory
  • K is for Killing by Daniel Easterman
  • "The Last Article" by Harry Turtledove (1988)
  • The Leader by Guy Walters (2003)
  • "Living Space" by Isaac Asimov (1956)
  • The Madagaskar Plan by Guy Saville (2015)
  • Making History by Stephen Fry (1996)
  • The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (1962)
  • The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (2004)
  • The Proteus Operation by James P. Hogan (1985)
  • Resistance by Owen Sheers (2007)
  • The Sound of His Horn by Sarban (1952)
  • SS-GB by Len Deighton (1978)
  • Swastika Night by Katharine Burdekin (1937) Not an alternate history
  • "Thor Meets Captain America" by David Brin (1986)
  • Timewyrm: Exodus (Doctor Who novel) by Terrance Dicks (1991)
  • The Ultimate Solution by Eric Norden (1973)
  • Warlords of Utopia by Lance Parkin (2004)
  • When William Came written in 1913 as a future history, this is among the earliest of Pax Germanica genre
  • Curious Notions, written by Harry Turtledove, explores the less common variant of a world where Imperial Germany won the First World War.
  • Peace In Our Time by Noël Coward (1947).
  • Amerika by Paul M. Lally (2015)
  • Alternate Majors by Kim Newman (John Major as PM of a Nazi Britain) [2]

    • Young adult fiction

  • The Giver by Lois Lowry (Houghton Mifflin, 1993)
  • Among the Hidden (The Shadow Children #1) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 1998)

    • Fiction

  • Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn (MacAdam/Cage, 2001)
  • Feed by M. T. Anderson (Candlewick Press, 2002)
  • Jennifer Government by Max Barry (Doubleday, 2003)
  • Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday, 2003)
  • Asphalt by Carl Hancock Rux (Simon & Schuster, 2004)
  • Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (Sceptre, 2004)
  • The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin, 2004)
  • Divided Kingdom by Rupert Thomson (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005)
  • Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber and Faber, 2005)
  • Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks (Del Rey Books, 2006)
  • The Book of Dave by Will Self (Viking Press, 2006)
  • Day of the Oprichnik by Vladimir Sorokin (Zakharov Books, 2006)
  • The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006)
  • Blind Faith by Ben Elton (Bantam Press, 2007)
  • Last Light by Alex Scarrow (Orion Publishing Group, 2007)
  • The Pesthouse by Jim Crace (Pan Macmillan UK, 2007)
  • The Host by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown and Company, 2008)
  • Nontraditional Love by Rafael Grugman (Liberty Publishing House, 2008)
  • World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008)
  • Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (Viking Press, 2009)
  • The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade Books, 2009)
  • The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (McClelland & Stewart, 2009)
  • Z213: Exit by Dimitris Lyacos (Shoestring Press, 2009)
  • Existential Threat by Chad Nance (Second Wind Publishing, 2014)

    • Young adult fiction

  • Mortal Engines (The Hungry City Chronicles #1) by Philip Reeve (Scholastic, 2001)
  • Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman (Random House, 2001)
  • The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (Atheneum Books, 2002)
  • Among the Barons (Shadow Children #4) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2003)
  • Among the Betrayed (Shadow Children #3) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2003)
  • The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (Random House, 2003)
  • Among the Brave (Shadow Children #5) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2004)
  • The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn (Scholastic, 2004)
  • Knife Edge by Malorie Blackman (Doubleday, 2004)
  • The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau (Yearling, 2004)
  • Among the Enemy (Shadow Children #6) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2005)
  • Checkmate by Malorie Blackman (Random House, 2005)
  • Pretties by Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse, 2005)
  • Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse, 2005)
  • Among the Free (Shadow Children #7) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2006)
  • Bar Code Rebellion by Suzanne Weyn (Scholastic, 2006)
  • Genesis by Bernard Beckett (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006)
  • Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt Children's Books, 2006)
  • Specials by Scott Westerfeld (Simon & Schuster, 2006)
  • Extras by Scott Westerfeld (Simon & Schuste], 2007)
  • Incarceron by Catherine Fisher (Hodder & Stoughton, 2007)
  • Unwind by Neal Shusterman (Simon & Schuster, 2007)
  • The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (Henry Holt and Company, 2008)
  • The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt Children's Books, 2008)
  • The Declaration by Gemma Malley (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008)
  • Double Cross by Malorie Blackman (Random House, 2008)
  • From the New World by Yusuke Kishi (Kodansha Novels, 2008)
  • Gone by Michael Grant (HarperCollins, 2008)
  • The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, 2008)
  • The Resistance by Gemma Malley (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008)
  • Sapphique (2007) by Catherine Fisher (Hodder & Stoughton, 2008)
  • Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, 2009)
  • The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (Random House, 2009)
  • The Maze Runner by James Dashner (Delacorte Press, 2009)

    • Fiction

  • Abandon the Night (The Envy Chronicles #3) by Joss Ware (Avon, 2010)
  • Beyond the Night (The Envy Chronicles #1) by Joss Ware (HarperCollins, 2010)
  • Embrace the Night Eternal (The Envy Chronicles #2) by Joss Ware (Avon, 2010)
  • The Passage by Justin Cronin (Ballantine Books, 2010)
  • Rondo: The Memoirs of Dr Josef Divonne, Late of 2me Lyon by John Maher (Pilgrim Press Publishing, 2010)
  • Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart (Random House, 2010)
  • Dreams Unleashed (The Prophecies Trilogy #1 by Linda Hawley (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011)
  • Guardian of Time (The Prophecies Trilogy #2 by Linda Hawley (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011)
  • Night Betrayed (The Envy Chronicles #4) by Joss Ware (Avon, 2011)
  • Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Random House, 2011)
  • The Miracle Inspector by Helen Smith (Tyger Books, 2012)
  • Night Forbidden (The Envy Chronicles #5) by Joss Ware (Avon, 2012)
  • Shimoneta by Hirotaka Akagi (Shogakukan, 2012)
  • Wisdom Keepers (The Prophecies Trilogy #3 by Linda Hawley (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012)
  • Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press, 2013)
  • The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (Bloomsbury, 2013)
  • The Circle by Dave Eggers (Alfred A. Knopf, 2013)
  • MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood (Nan A. Talese, 2013)
  • Night Resurrected (The Envy Chronicles #6) by Joss Ware (Avon, 2013)
  • Wool by Hugh Howey (Simon & Schuster, 2013)
  • Dominion by C.J. Sansom (Mulholland Books, 2014)
  • J by Howard Jacobson (Hogarth Press, 2014)
  • Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill (Quercus, 2014)
  • The Race by Nina Allan (NewCon Press, 2014)
  • The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood (Bloomsbury, 2015)
  • Tempted by the Night (The Envy Chronicles #6.5) by Colleen Gleason (Avon, 2015)
  • Submission (novel) by Michel Houellebecq (Groupe Flammarion, 2015)
  • The Liars: The PostPlague Trilogy (Book 1) by D.L.Eagan (CreateSpace, 2015)
  • Ablution: The Beginning by Michael A. O'Riley (Back Road Publishing, 2016)
  • The Forest of Life by Alexander Scot McPhie (Mango-a-GoGo Productions Pty Ltd, 2016)
  • Children of Liberty: The PostPlague Trilogy (Book 2) by D.L.Eagan (CreateSpace, 2017)
  • To Be: The Rise of Misplaced Power and What It May Foreshadow by Robert M Lebovitz (Independent 2016) [114]

    • Young adult fiction

  • Matched by Ally Condie (Dutton Children's Books, 2010)
  • Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Corporation, 2010)
  • Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (Candlewick Press, 2010)
  • The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (Delacorte Press, 2010)
  • This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt, 2010)
  • Across The Universe by Beth Revis (Razorbill Books, 2011)
  • Crossed by Ally Condie (Dutton Children's Books, 2011)
  • The Death Cure by James Dashner (Delacorte Press, 2011)
  • Delirium by Lauren Oliver (HarperCollins, 2011)
  • Divergent by Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books, 2011)
  • Legend by Marie Lu (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2011)
  • Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (HarperCollins, 2011)
  • Wither by Lauren DeStefano (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2011)
  • Article 5 by Kristen Simmons (Tor Teen, 2012)
  • Blood Zero Sky by J. Gabriel Gates (HCI Books, 2012)
  • Insurgent by Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books, 2012)
  • Reached by Ally Condie (Dutton Children's Books, 2012)
  • Revealing Eden by Victoria Foyt (Sand Dollar Press, Inc., 2012)
  • Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (HarperCollins, 2012)
  • The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey (Penguin Group, 2013)
  • Allegiant by Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books, 2013)
  • Champion by Marie Lu (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2013)
  • Prodigy by Marie Lu (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2013)
  • The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey (2014)
  • Mirror X (The Van Winkle Project Book One) by Karri Thompson (2014)
  • The Last Human by Ink Pieper (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014)
  • The Last Star by Rick Yancey (2016)

    • References

    List of dystopian literature Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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