Dystopia

 

Toward the end of March, when I had very nearly finished reading For Whom the Bell Tolls , I had considered re-reading either Lord of the World  by Robert Hugh Benson, or Stanislaw Lem's Memoirs Found in a Bathtub. As it turned out, before going to those two novels, I read two by Christopher Morley - Parnassus on Wheels and The Haunted Bookshop .

The two, above mentioned, dystopian novels would be the first read in April. I've already written something on Memoirs Found in a Bathtub.

I first read Lord of the World in March of 2012. The novel is very popular among conservative Catholics, having been called "prophetic" by Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. I am a fan of the novel, although I consider it slightly over-rated.

While reading these last two novels, I decided I would read additional "dystopic" novels this month. Following these, I read The Republic of the Future; or, Socialism a Reality by Anna Bowman Dodd and the U.K. version of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange.

The Republic of the Future was first published in 1887 - the story taking place in 2050. The novel is satirical in nature, with Dodd's targets being socialism, animal rights, and radical feminism. In her novel, New York Socialist City is a dreary conformist society, in which the inhabitants live in identical homes and men and women dress alike. The novella is, in my view, far too short. I wish Dodd had taken the ideas further.

Although I've seen the film many times, this was my first time reading A Clockwork Orange . Fortunately, I was able to get a copy of the original version released in the U.K.. I hadn't known that when the novel was first published in the U.S., the American publisher felt that the final chapter would not appeal to American readers. The U.K. version, with this 21st chapter ends "less dark" than the U.S. editions. When Stanley Kubrick wrote the screen play to the film, he was unaware of the 21st chapter. He based his film on the American version (which Burgess considered to be "badly flawed"). I, for one agree with Burgess. The 21st chapter puts a different take on the ending and is absolutely necessary.

I'm going to finish out April with more dystopian novels - some I've read before, others I haven't. So far, the seven books on the list include 1984 - Brave New World -We - Pictures of the Socialistic Future -The Land of the Changing Sun -The Purple Cloud - and The Sleeper Awakes .