The Disturbing Attraction of the Dystopian Novel

I’m putting aside my novel writing for the summer. I’ve decided to concentrate on other blog themes, and catch up on things like gardening, home decorating, and of course, reading, an enduring summer pleasure.

With the new TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale  in the news, I headed down the stacks in the local library to pick it up, but instead found myself reaching for her newest book, The Heart Goes Last. 

“Why not?” I say, and add it to my take out pile. The truth is, I don’t have what it takes to read The Handmaid’s Tale again. I remember it as profoundly disturbing—a chillingly futuristic novel about Gilead, and how its female inhabitants are forced to have sex with powerful men and bear their children.

I’m done with that type of literature, I tell myself. But this is Margaret Atwood, whose work I’ve always found to be immensely readable, so I take the book home, looking forward to losing myself in an absorbing story.

But that’s not what happens. It turns out that Atwood is once again on her dystopian kick and that’s not the half of it—the book is trivial and boring, as critic Ron Charles  (Washington Post) informs us:

“…just as Atwood begins exploring the horror of living in an incorporated terrarium, the story deflates into a flaccid sex comedy. Even when chickens are involved — no, especially when chickens are involved — this is pretty unbearable stuff. The plot rambles, the sharp edge of Atwood’s satire dulls, and we’re left with campy characters gyrating away chapter after chapter.”

That does it. It’s the final nail in the dystopian coffin.

So imagine my surprise when the latest Hodder and Stoughton newsletter popped up in my mailbox, with the invitation to read the first few chapters of a new book by Deon Meyer, a thriller novelist, known for his dark themes. 

It’s not my usual taste, but here is the synopsis, for those of you who hunger for such joyless distraction.

“Fever is the epic new novel from international bestseller Deon Meyer. In these opening chapters we meet young Nico Storm and his father Willem as they journey across a desolate South Africa, survivors of a virus hat has killed most of the world’s population.”

There must be some point to this trend. In fact, sales of George Orwell’s 1984  have soared this year. Which brings me to the question, What is it about dystopian novels and movies that draws readers in? Why do people read stuff that keeps them awake at night?

We are living in frightening times, when the foundations of our society are being threatened. The promise of constant progress has been disrupted, and our dreams of a better standard of living for the world’s population are dying.

So we read science fiction, in which everything goes wrong, and we speculate about a bleak future, where there is no positive end point.

This may have therapeutic value—a disfunctional reality, embedded in a racy narrative, may be more satisfying than a disheartening truth. Maybe it helps us make sense of the forces around us. And you can always finish it, and put it away, happy that things are not yet so bad.

Whatever the reasons, people are reaching out to dark literary visions in droves, a trend that seems to be gathering force.