Some believe that the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012. What better theme to start the New Year with Apocalyptic, or Dystopian novels? (Pardon my fascination with morbidity.) I seem to consider the two themes as interchangeable, with slight difference. Apocalyptic works are more concerned with the end of the days and the events leading up to it, and the destruction. A good example of apocalyptic fiction is The War of the Worlds by H G Wells. Dystopian novels tend to focus more on the aftermath through a rebuilt civilization. In this sense, Dystopian novels project into a farther future. Examples include 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
Below are some other Dystopian and Apocalyptic fiction that haunt readers:
Title: The Road
Author: Cormac McCarthy
Publisher:New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006
Call No.: English MAC
Title:We
Author:Yevgeny Zamyatin
Publisher:New York: Modern Library, 2006
Call No.:English ZAM
Title:The Children of Men
Author:P. D. James
Publisher:London: Faber and Faber, 2005
Call No.:English JAM – [TH]
Title:The Unit
Author:Ninni Holmqvist
Publisher:York: Other Press, c2008
Call No.:English HOL
Title:Jennifer Government
Author:Maxx Barry
Publisher:London: Abacus, 2004
Call No.:English BAR
Did you know? Jennifer Government is available online as an ebook via our NLB Searchplus! (http://nlbsearchplus.pl.sg/) Read online at the comfort of your own home without having to check out a copy from the library!
If you wish to find out more about the Mayan calendar and prediction of the end of days, you may wish to refer to the following books:
Title:The everything guide to 2012 : all you need to know about the theories, beliefs, and history surrounding the ancient Mayan prophecies
Author:Mark Heley
Publisher:Avon, Mass. : Adams Media Corp., c2009
Call No.:English 133.3 HEL
Title: 2012 : Mayan year of destiny : the Mayan calendar marks the year 2012 as humanity’s appointment with destiny and global change
Author:Adrian Gilbert
Publisher:Virginia Beach, Va. : A.R.E. Press, c2006
Call No.:English 299.784 GIL
Wan Ni just read…
Title:The Magicians
Author: Lev Grossman
Publisher:London : William Heinemann, 2009
Call No.:English GRO -[TH]
Consider this book Harry Potter for adults. Set in contemporary New York, Quentin, a senior in high school, found himself recruited into a special college. In this college, the entrance exams are charmed to be different for every candidate, the students are able to fiddle with atoms and enchant objects, the teachers are able to turn people into animals and make them fly halfway round the world. In this special school for magicians, Quentin learns about friendship, love and loyalty- not unlike other college experience apart from the incredible gifts of Magic. This book is certainly recommended for readers who grew up reading Narnia and Harry Potter.
All book covers are copyright of their respective publishers.
Contributed by Lo Wan Ni, Associate Librarian, Public Libraries Singapore
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3 responses so far ↓
1 Wen Sze // Jan 3, 2012 at 9:28 am
Take the technological and economic quest for genetic improvement to its logical conclusions, and you get Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake”. Sci-fi dystopian works are often fictional science than science in fiction, but Atwood’s work belong to the latter, perhaps because, as she disclosed in “Writing Oryx and Crake”, many of her close relatives are scientists.
To find out which library branches have the book, check: http://eservice.nlb.gov.sg/item_holding_s.aspx?bid=12356420 It is also available as an ebook (http://nlbsearchplus.pl.sg)
2 Wan Ni // Jan 3, 2012 at 9:39 am
Yes, that’s one of the books I meant to put in the list but forgot. I found The Year of the Flood easier to read than Oryx and Crake for some reason, which is stange because The Year of the Floodis the sequel.
3 mrdes // Jan 5, 2012 at 8:41 am
I think John Wyndham’s “The Chrysalids” is a good example of what you defined as Dystopian novels (“…more on the aftermath through a rebuilt civilization.)? It makes me think a lot about the human’s condition and evolution.
Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” is haunting indeed, and I think pretty accurate projection of a future of civilisation end.
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