This isn't a homework question. I happen to like dystopic novels a lot for some reason recently. I've been thinking why I like them and one answer that has occurred is that maybe, using the novel as a guide, I could try to avoid such a situation described. Looking at books like Animal Farm, 1984 or A Clockwork Orange, for instance. Can anyone think of any other reasons other than its interesting reading?
2007-08-21 15:07:43 · 6 answers · asked by vendetta4hire 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Cool responses. I'll check out some of those books.
2007-08-21 15:18:39 · update #1
They should prevent us from making similar mistakes, although they also have a reverse effect.
For example UFO enthusists often side H.G. Well's "War of the Worlds" (and the radio broadcast) as a reason why the general public whould be deemed unready for information concerning aliens.
Plato's Atlantis has probably misled people for years on whatever he was really refering too.
Logan's Run and Soylent Green (Make Room, Make Room) are probably some of the my favorite B movies about dystopian futures.
But the really scary thing is our immenient dystopian future:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusian_catastrophe
And one of Wikipedia's scariest articles:
WATER!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water
2007-08-21 15:16:57 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Very much so. They are a good type of book to really get you thinking. Most dystopic novels are what is called speculative fiction. They take a problem or issue from the present and project it into the future and see how the future will be affected by it. Or they satirize current problems by creating dystopic situations.
'
Have you read The Road?? Absolutely amazing book. Also The Handmaid's Tale, Vernon God Little ... there are so many.
They really help you to look at society's ills of today and think about how much worse things will be in the future if we don't do something to change now. Pax- C
2007-08-21 22:15:52 · answer #2 · answered by Persiphone_Hellecat 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would argue that they have as much value as utopian novels. Dystopic novels are no more realistic than utopian novels, but they are certainly interesting. Perhaps more than utopian novels, dystopian novels are better indicators of what we're headed toward. Think of the double speak in 1984.
Have you read The Children of Men by P.D. James? Excellent book. They made a movie of it, but I haven't seen it yet, so I can't recommend it.
2007-08-21 22:12:34 · answer #3 · answered by Nannie 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
One resaon could be that Utopian novels get a bit boring, take Huxley's "Island." Unrestricted sex, drug use, and ideal education systems start to pall after awhile, no matter how interesting the descriptions are and I find myself rooting for the evil tyrants to show up. Erewhon, For us the living, etc all have this same problem, there isn't a lot of excitement in utopia.
I also think part of the attraction of dystopian novels is the long tradition of coming disaster that you find in Western literature from Revelations to No blade of Grass, to Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. It would seem impending disaster is an ever popular lit form.
2007-08-21 22:31:24 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I feel that there is a value in these novels/books/etc. because it shows us that the world is not perfect. Since it isn't, this makes sense somewhat; even if the novel (and the movie adaptation in the case of a clockwork orange) is really depressing.
2007-08-21 22:24:37 · answer #5 · answered by Nick B 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Most are imaginative and witty, filled with satire and irony. They give us a chance to laugh at some of the stuff going on around us.
2007-08-22 00:23:19 · answer #6 · answered by Diana 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋