Dystopian Literature
Dystopia is from the late 18th century, from dys- ‘bad’ + utopia. Oxford English Dictionary definition: "An imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible." Utopia was introduced by Sir Thomas More in his novel, Utopia (1561), a Latin word meaning "no place" or "somewhere too good to be true." The New Yorker compares the two: "A utopia is a paradise, a dystopia a paradise lost" and "Dystopias follow utopias the way thunder follows lightning." Dystopian fiction is a sub-genre of Science Fiction, in which social structures decompose.
The Pedestrian
Mr. Spaceship
Mr. Spaceship by Philip K. Dick is artificial intelligence with a twist: a machine needs a human brain, which is removed and transplanted into a spaceship to pilot it in outer space.
The Variable Man
The Variable Man by Philip K. Dick is a satirical dystopian story about a man who fixed machines, with "no business in the future."
The Machine Stops
The Machine Stops is considered Forster's masterwork of Dystopian short fiction, a cautionary tale for all of us who can no longer imagine a world without the Internet and smartphones. It was first published in 1909 in the Oxford and Cambridge Review. Though considered a short story, we've featured it here as a novella since it has three distinct parts. Featured in our guide to Science Fiction. [Illustration at right is a Universal Projectoscope, Gage & Gage's book about moving picture machines, 1914.]
ANTHEM
2 B R 0 2 B by Kurt Vonnegut
In the Year 2889
A Modern Utopia
The Fixed Period
The Sleeper Awakes
Dystopia: A Mini Documentary
A Nice Introduction to the Genre
Dystopias and Utopias
"In the Year 2525" Timely Folk Tune by Zager and Evans