What are dystopic novels and how to choose best one?

Posted by Ralph K Jones on November 2nd, 2019

Dystopia is a subgenre within science fiction literature that has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years and is part of the new wave of youth books.

The dystopian story has, as its scenario, a hypothetical future society, which has fallen into the hands of an authoritarian government; technology controlled everything, a serious epidemic attacks society, etc. In short, a nightmare world is where everyone must follow the rules or run the risk of being demolished. That is why dystopia is the opposite of utopia, the ideal society where everything works in peace and harmony.

The new youth Popular Dystopian Novels treats some of these issues, although not as extreme as the classics. But it does not protect them from being stories with which we are not able to reflect on the behaviours and consequences that actions can carry, value social aspects and enjoy adventure, intrigue or romance,

Some of the dystopias that have opened the doors of the genre to many young readers are the Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, or Maze Runner, by James Dashner, Cinder, Marissa Meyer, among others.

Origin

Although the first time the term was used was in 1868, at the hands of John Stuart Mill in a parliamentary speech in which he intervened. The theme or genre is born more than anything because of the need for certain artists to manifest themselves before any misfortune that has occurred in the world, to conceive, imagine and recreate a world in which they do not possess the possessions possessed in the world. Today, the human being is the main cause of the destruction of its habitat, namely the earth, lovers of the place where they were born as well as other artists who wanted only to show that everything was not so perfect they painted it. Most of the exponents, the utopia was wonderful, but nothing realistic. There must be that cusp point that only took a man to the depths of his own mistakes, so the Famous Dystopian Novels originated.

Characteristics of a dystopia

There are several ways to distinguish dystopia. However, some essential features of dystopia will not be placed, which are as follows:

• Manifest a devastated world.
• It is expressed through fanciful ideologies about the various worlds.
• It is usually about the end of the world or a post-apocalyptic world.
• It focuses on the banality and insensitivity of human beings, highlighting its visceral part.
• It exposes and manifests everything false that humans are not capable of creating.
• It is the opposite pole of utopia.

How it differs from utopia?

Utopia is the dream place of every man, the island on which every human being would like to remain stranded. That perfect ideology not only of humanity but also of the world in which he lives; however, dystopia is the opposite. It is considered as the wrong place, in which no one would like to live, that which everyone hates, but loves to do. The utopia and dystopia are two poles opposite; for simplicity, the first encompasses everything that is considered good, glorious, and magnificent. However, dystopia is all bad, catastrophic, and realistic, to what the human being is to run away from him, but for what he feels a great and undoubted attraction.