6 dystopias every man should read

In the news, there is only talk about nuclear war and forecasts of the future. And how did writers see him?  Doberman.media tells about 6 cool dystopias, after reading which this world becomes absolutely clear. 

«1984»
George Orwell 

A well-known novel, about which lines and words have been written many times more than the volume of this book itself. Nevertheless, it would be a crime not to include "1984" in this selection.

The most famous book by Orwell and, perhaps, the most popular dystopia of all time. The plot of the novel tells about the world of the future, where there is a Ministry of Truth and a Ministry of Love, and every step of a person is tracked and controlled.

"1984" is a novel about the horrific control and horrors of a totalitarian system. In 2024, it can still be read as a warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence, which can act as both an assistant and an enemy, depending on whose hands it falls.

"The Man in the High Castle"
Philip K. Dick 

Perhaps not exactly a dystopia, but the novel is worthwhile and definitely recommended for reading. The classic of American science fiction wrote a book that tells an alternative history of the world after World War II.

Dick describes a world where the victory was won not by the Soviet Union, but by Germany and Japan. The novel has six storylines and they all intersect with each other. The plot is not linear and can be confusing, but the bold and experimental look at the story is definitely worth reading. 

"Paranoia" 
Victor Martinovich

The debut novel of the Belarusian writer, published in 2009, which very clearly resonates with the current reality. Then Martinovich himself defined the genre of his book, designating it as a reality-dystopia. 

The plot of the novel tells about the love of the writer Anatoly Nevinsky and the mistress of the Minister of State Security Nikolai Muravyov, Elizaveta Supranovich. In principle, the narrative is built around this love, or rather Muravyov's position. Paranoia is exactly the feeling that haunts throughout the novel.

In his text, Martinovich unscrewed the toggle switch to the maximum and brought Belarus to the state in which the country is now. When any doorbell drops the heart to the heels, and the hand feverishly grabs the smartphone to clean up the "objectionable" chats. 

"Endless Joke"
David Foster Wallis

A 1200-page large-scale literary canvas that fits tightly into the literary classics of the 20th century. "Infinite Joke" is perceived in different ways. Someone praises it for its innovation and courage, calling it the main novel of the century. Someone considers mediocre and meaningless scribbling. 

Nevertheless, Wallace created a truly experimental and daring thing. The novel tells about the America of the future and raises a bunch of things in a satirical manner: from drug addiction and depression to Quebec separatism.

"Infinite Joke" contains only 388 pages of the author's footnotes explaining the context of the novel. It is difficult to read this book, but if you fight through, you will enjoy its style, imagery and humor.

"The Handmaid's Tale"
Margaret Atwood 

A sensational and popular dystopia that found a second life after the release of the series of the same name in 2017. The novel itself was published in 1985.

The book is set in a fantasy version of New England, in the Republic of Heliad, where religious radicals have come to power. The protagonist, Fredov's "servant", must bear a child for the high-ranking Commendatore instead of his supposedly infertile wife.

The novel raises the topic of oppression of women and does not look super fantastic. The book is about terrible things, the tendencies to which are manifested in one way or another all over the world. Atwood herself noticed the trends already existing in America in the 1980s, and in her prose deliberately brought them to their "logical conclusion."

"Mova"
Victor Martinovich

One of the most popular Belarusian dystopias, and in principle books of our time. Martinovich's "Language" has been published four times and the circulation of published books is at least more than two thousand copies.

The novel tells about the Belarusian future of 2044, where Belarus is the Northwestern province of the Union State of Russia and China. "Mova" in the novel is a drug sold in the form of scrolls with quotes from various Belarusian books. This drug causes visual and auditory hallucinations with a vivid ethnographic effect.

Mova made a splash after the release. The book was quickly sold out, additional editions were published, and 10 years later, its value seems to have increased even more. 5 years after Martinovich's novel, the popular Russian writer Alexei Salnikov (the one who wrote "The Petrovs in the Flu") published "Indirectly" - a book where poetry is a drug. It is not known whether this is borrowing or not. It is known that Martsinovich was the first to produce a popular product that raises a layer of problems related to Belarusian identity.