Utopian Novels
Submitted by misscurly on Thu, 06/02/2005 - 10:36
Tags:
Read 'Em
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- 1984 by George Orwell
- 1985 by Anthony Burgess
- The Giver by Lowis Lowery
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- Utopia by Sir Thomas More
- Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Short Story found in Welcome to the Monkeyhouse)
- Welcome to the Monkeyhouse by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Short Story found in Welcome to the Monkeyhouse)
- We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
- Erewhon by Samuel Butler
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
- Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach
To Read
- The Wanderground: Stories of Hill Women by Sally Miller Gearhart
- Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
- Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- News from Nowhere by William Morris
- Level 7 by Mordecai Roshwald
- Walden Two by B. F. Skinner
- Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk
- The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You by Dorothy Bryant
- The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov
- The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Author Comments:
Please let me know if you have any others for me to add to the list. They are books about the future, in which a "perfect world" was created, but is anything but what one would expect.
This is my favourite mode of novel; I think it most accurately reflects the greatest fears of the society in which it was written.
I'll bold those I own.
others to add
The Wanderground: Stories of Hill Women by Sally Miller Gearhart
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
I too have read 1984. I have read The Handmaid's Tale. Of the ones I suggest you add...I have to say The Wonderground is a must read. Although it is hard to get a copy.
So is 1985... I went searching for it because it's the year I was born.
Thanks for the advice; it's difficult to find any sources on the internet, or other people with the same interest.
A few more...
Fifth Sacred Thing
Kin of Ata
Tripod Trilogy
Naked Sun
Ecotopia
The Disposessed
Triton
Thank you!
I don't know what you mean by Tripod Trilogy. Can I have an author or actual title? I'm also sort of anti series, but we'll see what happens.
I really like utopian/dystopian literature as well. Here are a few others I've enjoyed:
Samuel Butler/Erewhon
Sir Thomas More/Utopia
William Morris/News from Nowhere
Yevgeny Zamyatin/We
B. F. Skinner/Walden Two This one isn't always the most riveting reading, but it's interesting because Skinner is one of the most important early Psychologists.
And I saw on another list you liked The Island of Dr. Moreau, so I'd also recommend The Time Machine by Wells. It is a heavily utopian-influenced novel, if not utopian in the strictest sense of the term.
Johnny Waco
hmm... I've read The Time Machine for school, and I wasn't a huge fan. I found it relied too heavily on the satire to carry the storyline.
What i mean to say is exaggerations can only become so large before they become complete nonsense.
But I really appreciate the suggestions!
Oops, I almost forgot: I didn't know that Skinner wrote any fiction. You've certainly piqued my interest!
The two stories I've had a chance to read from Welcome to the Monkeyhouse are excellent.
Harrison Bergeron deals with the idea of 'normalizing' the entire population, while Welcome to the Monkeyhouse gives us one solution to the world's overpopulation. This novel is unquestionably an important addition to any utopian-themed collection; how could such a collection exist without the dry humour found in Vonnegut's work?
Welcome to the Monkey House is a wonderful set of stories. I should read it again, but I remember liking "Who Am I This Time?" in a weird, Secretary-esque kind of way, and thinking "Next Door" was absolutely hilarious. Check them out if you get the chance.
P.S. I failed to notice the actual title of this list, too excited to see that someone was reading Welcome to the Monkey House. Those stories have nothing to do with utopias, but I recommend them anyway.
I'm actually about to finish the collection, I just wanted to add those select stories to the list.
I love Kurt Vonnegut Jr, and Welcome to the Monkeyhouse is one of my favourite works yet.
I would like to add my novel Y3K to this list. here is the blurb from the back cover...
Y3K is primarily a look back from the year 2999 at the world’s looming social/ecological crisis from the viewpoint of Max and his extended family; thirtieth century hippie communards. Inspired by my own five years of living communally, the beginning of the book unveils an evolved form of that lifestyle in the old growth forests of America’s Pacific Northwest.
Loosely based on the biblical ‘1000 years of peace’ subsequent to ‘Entropy Gaia,’ the earth’s near death experience, it describes an ecotopian world where society has advanced far beyond war, exploitation and deprivation; where humanity has learned to live lightly on the earth and allowed a natural Eden to regenerate.
However, their hip earthly paradise is under threat—Satan returns—from the very same callous and disrespectful attitudes towards life and the environment that we are dealing with today.
Y3K is a road novel that nearly circles the world. Travel along with Max through a fascinating and flourishing communal movement as he plays his part in trying to protect the world’s forests and counter the destructive new mania for growth.
It has so far had limited distribution. I'd be glad to send a free copy to anyone who is interested, but please check out my website first to be sure it's something you'd like to read.
It's also available on Amazon
Thank you,
Stan Kahn
You neglected to provide your website?
I love 1984, great book, is 1985 a spoof or a separate book?
Well it certainly isn't a spoof.
Half of the book (the introduction I guess you would call it) discusses what real-world events created the mindset that allowed 1984 to be written. It suggests how close the world really is to a similar scenario. It's basically the theories and history leading up to the writing of 1984 and similar stories (Animal Farm, etc).
The second part is fiction in the same sort of thread as Orwell. The story really isn't that great, but it's interesting to see Burgess' take on the Orwellian world. It's also interesting to compare it to A Clockwork Orange and other things that Burgess has written.