As you may have noticed, Speculative Fiction is a pretty large bag of mixed tastes. Today, I thought (since I’m currently reading Wither by Lauren DeStafano and have recently read other books that fit into these categories) that we’d take a look at Apocalyptic, Dystopian, and, because it usually is linked with dystopian, the Utopian novel, too. Utopian aside for a moment, the other two sub-genres have a fairly common element: life is bleak, if there’s still any life around.

First up, there’s Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction. Apocalyptic novels, by definition, are set as the end of civilization is iminent, be it from plague, nuclear war, impending disaster (as I write this I have Aerosmith singing “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing”, in my head, as a large meteor is bearing down on earth). Whatever the cause, it will change life on Earth as we know it. Post-Apocalyptic takes place after the disaster, whether immediately, highlighting how survival must be attained (I’m thinking of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road) or much later, showing life has changed greatly and signs of technology have all but gone. In Post-Apoc novels, often history has been “forgotten  or mythologized”. I have a curious example for the “Post”  category:  Erin Durante’s Damewood Trilogy, which takes place in a time that seems like 16th or 17th century living, complete with castles, frilly ball gowns, et al. But reading on, you realize the world has regressed from modern society back to the antiquated style of living.

Dystopian novels are often linked with the apocalyptic theme because they also involve changes in society that create an unbearable atmosphere for most “normal” living humans (the rich, most religious, most subservant, etc., are usually exempted from the harrowing life that is the new norm). Again, the future is dismal, but now for social or political reasons versus catastrophe. The best example I have for dystopian is Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, but there seems to be a popular trend in YA books now, with Lauren Oliver recently releasing Delirium, where love is a curable virus, and of course, Lauren DeStefano’s Wither, with a storyline that has science being the cause of a diminished life span for humans. Another similarity between the apocalyptic and dystopic genres, is that in Dystopian novels, usually the societal changes have affected outlying regions, making them uninhabitable…but perfect places for the resistances.

Utopian books, being the opposite of dystopian, sets the scene for a perfect world. This genre dates back to Plato’s The Republic, but is more identifiable (mostly because it has the name in the title :-p) in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia. I personally just bought a copy of More’s book to see what all the hullabaloo was about…I’ll let you know when I finally read it 😉 Interesting Wiki fact about utopia as a topic: before 1900 there were 400 novels written in this genre. So basically, as long as men/women have been writing novels, we’ve been searching for the perfect world.

Looking on Goodreads at what people have listed as Dystopian, Apocalyptic, and Utopian, it surprised me to see how many books within these categories that I actually own. Why? Because every time I read one, I grumble about how depressing they are. But, really, what they do, they do very well. They make us think about how life is, how it could be, and most importantly, to not take our world for granted, regardless of how imperfect it is.

About Jackie

Jackie is a quirky mom, living in Ontario, Canada. She's a bookkeeper by day and a book lover by night. She also blogs at The Novel Nation and writes occasionally for Heroes and Heartbreakers.

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