The Irish satirist Jonathan Swift arguably invented the genre of dystopian literature in 1726 by publishing his monumental work Gulliver’s Travels. Since then, writers of all stripes have used the genre to explore the darker possibilities of their societies.
What follows is a short, but ever-expanding list, of fictional works within the genre. If you have a suggestion for the list, please post a comment below. Please be aware, though, that there is a distinction between dystopian literature and post-apocalyptic literature. While the two do often work hand-in-hand, one does not necessitate the other.
An Incomplete List of Dystopian Novels & Comic Books
- 1984 by George Orwell, 1948
- American War by Omar El Akkad, 2017
- Anthem by Ayn Rand, 1938
- Bend Sinister by Vladimir Nabokov, 1947
- Blindness by José Saramago, 1995
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 1932
- Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkins, 1998
- Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, 2018
- The Children of Men by P. D. James, 1992
- The City and the City by China Mieville, 2009
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, 1962
- The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, 1986
- The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard, 1962
- Fatherland by Robert Harris, 1992
- The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemison, 2015
- Flatland by Edwin Abbott, 1884
- Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, 1726
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, 1985
- The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead, 2000
- The Iron Heel by Jack London, 1908
- It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis, 1935
- Jennifer Government by Max Barry, 2003
- Neuromancer by William Gibson, 1984
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, 1993
- The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter, 1977
- Patternmaster by Octavia Butler, 2012
- The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, 2004
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, 1997
- The Trial by Franz Kafka, 1925
- Tokyo Ghost by Rick Remender, 2016
- Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis, 2002
- V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, 1989
- Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, 1987
- We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, 1921
- Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy, 1976
- The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, 2009
- Zero-K by Don DeLillo, 2016
