AMERICAN DYSTOPIA

American Dystopia

It is entertaining to imagine a terrible future, because of course terrible things are a heck of a lot more exciting and stimulating to the imagination than pleasant things. These days, novels of a dystopian future have become commonplace, a sub-genre that swamps a large part of science fiction. Quite a few book reviewers may not realize how repetitious this has become, so they praise the latest dystopian novel as a triumph of the imagination. Well, if you are new to the subject, maybe it seems so.

The Big Three dystopian novels in literary history are We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, and 1984, by George Orwell. There are others (The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, Metropolis by Thea von Harbou), but those three are the landmarks. Of the three, 1984 is the most rooted in twentieth century totalitarianism, whether the horror created by Hitler or the horror created by Lenin and Stalin. Brave New World is the most insidious, presenting a world of seductive entrapping ease.

The course of literary history has taken us especially toward the American Dystopia, in which the writer—usually but not always a leftist—envisions a future America that is oppressive, often theocratic, often bigoted, always cruel. Typically, the evil awaits us because of our own flaws, either our lack of decency or our lack of wisdom. Here following is a partial list of what you can enjoy if you are attracted to the image of America the Terrible.

The Iron Heel (1908), by Jack London. It imagines a capitalistic oligarchic tyranny in the U.S., with much anti-capitalist lecturing by London via his characters.

It Can’t Happen Here (1935), by Sinclair Lewis. It dramatizes the rise of a U.S. president who becomes a fascistic dictator.

“If This Goes On,” a Robert Heinlein novelette published in Astounding magazine in 1940, expanded and published as part of Revolt in 2100 in 1953. It portrays a future America as a theocratic tyranny in which women are especially victimized by the tyrants.

Earth Abides (1949), by George R. Stewart. It is about a small number of survivors in California after a global epidemic has killed most people.

"There Will Come Soft Rains," a Ray Bradbury short story published in Collier's magazine in 1950. It describes the automated equipment trying to maintain a house, the last house still standing after nuclear war has reduced the rest of a city to rubble. The story does not say humanity has wiped itself out, but that is one possible inference.

“Coming Attraction,” a Fritz Leiber short story published in Galaxy magazine in 1950. It portrays a socially degenerate New York City during a time of ongoing war, part of the city uninhabitable because of radiation from a nuclear bomb. This story was something of a landmark in science fiction magazines for its mature unflinching pessimism.

“Sam Hall,” a Poul Anderson novelette published in Astounding magazine in 1953. It envisions an American totalitarian state with pervasive surveillance technology, computer storage of all data on everyone, periodic evaluations for loyalty.

Fahrenheit 451 (1953), by Ray Bradbury. A portrait of a future America in which books are banned, and any that are found are burned. The main character is a “fireman.”

A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959), by Walter M. Miller Jr. A post-apocalyptic novel comprising three novellas, its characters survivors in a Southwestern U.S. monastery after a nuclear war. A great many novels and short stories were set in a world devastated by nuclear war.

Alas, Babylon (1959), by Pat Frank. A post-apocalyptic novel with characters surviving in a Florida town after a nuclear war. Well, I said there were a great many such novels didn’t I?

The Genocides (1965), by Thomas M. Disch. It portrays a Midwestern community barely surviving alien conquest, and doing so with the help of cannibalism, under the leadership of a ruthless conservative religious man.

Make Room! Make Room! (1966), by Harry Harrison. A dystopian New York City that dramatizes overpopulation. (Movie version added cannibalism.) It is one of many novels and short stories on the subject of overpopulation.

Camp Concentration (serialized 1967, book 1968), by Thomas M. Disch. It portrays the U.S. as a ruthless, fascistic nation.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), by Philip K. Dick. A portrait of a decayed America where almost nothing is natural and the environment is ruined. Many of its people are androids, and many animals also are androids. Movie version Blade Runner 1982.

Stand on Zanzibar (1968), by John Brunner. It dramatizes overpopulation, and despite the title it is set mostly in a dystopian America.

Path to Savagery (1969), by Robert Edmond Alter. A post-apocalyptic novel that like many others is about survivors in lawless conditions after a global war. It becomes a well-written thriller. Published posthumously.

The Sheep Look Up (1972), by John Brunner. A future America in which the environment is ruined by corporations, air and water are horribly polluted, people need to wear gas masks outside, new diseases are spreading, contaminated food is a big risk, species are going extinct.

334 (1972), by Thomas M. Disch. It dramatizes overpopulation in a dystopian near-future New York City.

The Stepford Wives (1972), by Ira Levin. A satirical paranoid horror novel about subjugation of women in middle-class America. It leaves unexplained how the subjugation occurs: drugs, robot replacements, or other method. Movie version 1975.

On Wings of Song (1979), by Thomas M. Disch. It portrays Midwestern U.S. police states ruled by Christian right-wingers where minor infractions get long prison terms and non-local newspapers are outlawed.

The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), by Margaret Atwood. A leftist feminist vision of America as a theocratic and sexist tyranny. The simple message is preached throughout. It is strange how admired this novel is, given the lack of originality, 45 years after Heinlein's "If This Goes On" and after more than two decades of feminist fiction and nonfiction illuminating sexism with greater complexity and subtlety than Atwood exhibits.

The Gold Coast (1988), by Kim Stanley Robinson. A portrait of ecological decay in a near-future California, where capitalism and the military-industrial complex are the roots of much evil. Robinson went on to become our most relentless preacher on climate change, in at least five novels—yes, five—and marries that to preaching on capitalistic greed.

Parable of the Sower (1993), by Octavia Butler. A portrait of a near-future California where the economy and society have collapsed, for unexplained reasons. It is a vision of grim and very redundant violence, chaos, and poverty, plus suggestions of climate change, slavery, and capitalistic greed.

Toward the End of Time (1997), by John Updike. The blandest dystopia. Updike routinely wrote about sex and marital angst in the suburbs. In this novel of an America in social and economic disarray after a war with China, he finds ... sex and marital angst in the suburbs. Stick with what you know.

Parable of the Talents (1998), by Octavia Butler. A followup novel, it describes a community being overrun by right-wing fundamentalist Christians.

The Road (2006), by Cormac McCarthy. A post-apocalyptic vision of America as a wasteland of social collapse, environmental devastation, and cannibalism, written in a hyper-minimalist flat style (degraded Hemingway). It won a Pulitzer for its lack of originality.

Little Brother (2008), by Cory Doctorow. Teenagers bring down a tyrannical American security state. Leftist sermonizing for teen readers.

The Hunger Games (2008), by Suzanne Collins. Ruthless gladiatorial games in a post-holocaust tyranny in North America, mainly in Appalachia. Action entertainment for teen readers. Followed by two sequels.

Generic Dystopia Novel (2009 to present), by MFA Creative Writing Courses. A future America that has been ruined by pollution and climate change and capitalism, in which class divisions are the rule, and bigotry and sexism are rampant. Teachers and graduates of MFA creative writing courses are churning this stuff out like bad fast food.

February 2021