The question is about dystopian novels and what I would suggest and why.
Apocalyptic literature and Dystopian literature are very similar. They describe a tyrant or dictator, what happens to the people under despotic rule and at least Apocalyptic literature provides hope for those to endure until the tyrant is overthrown or a better life for those who died under their rule. Two good books that explain this are:
Victorious Eschatology by Harold R. Eberle and Martin Trench.
Worthy is the Lamb by Ray Summers.
Both are books about Revelation or the Apocalypse of John. This last book of the Bible is not about the rapture or the battle of Armageddon. It's a book of hope given to believers going through persecution by tyrants. The Beast and False Prophet represent the Roman Emperor combining the Pontifix Maximus into one person and using it to imprison and murder anyone who refuses to worship the emperor as god.
See also Apocryphal The Book of Enoch. In the Old Testament books of Daniel, Ezekiel and Esther.
Dystopian novels:
1984 by George Orwell. More relevant today than when it was written. In 1948 the world knew the horror of totalitarianism in Germany, Italy and Japan. Russia and China were still suffering from it.
As we see it's rise all across the world and even in England and the U. S. we see how prophetic this book is.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Keeping the masses ignorant is vital for tyrants to rule.
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Slavery is the ultimate tyranny.
Animal Farm by George Orwell. Tyranny using anthropomorphism to explain it better.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Corporate tyranny and drugging the populace into compliance.
Optimus is a fast living, hard drinking Roman soldier who was a guard for the Apostle Paul and becomes Christian.
Under Nero he witnesses the persecution of believers under Nero and Domitian.
6 comments:
I'm glad you joined in. I can't remember if you use Twitter or not, but the hashtag there is #ScifiMonth if you want to promote your tweet or read other people's responses. No pressure, though. :)
Animal Farm was a great story.
I wouldn't have thought to classify Uncle Tom's Cabin as a dystopian novel, but it totally fits. Slavery was horrifying.
Thanks Lydia, I don't tweet. Th and blogger keep me busy enough.
Great List! I've read Brave New World and 1894. I liked Brave New World but not 1984.
Thanks for coming by, PT.
Worthy Is The Lamb sounds very interesting to me. I just read The Robe recently and enjoyed it very much.
Greg, WitL isn't fiction. It's theology. If read it knowing that you should like it.
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