Dystopian Fiction Collection

We have an early edition of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in our Dystopian Fiction Cabinet.

Initially the publication of this book met with much resistance from companies manufacturing pesticides. It is now viewed as one of the most important books of the twentieth century. It explored the destruction of wildlife from the use of chemicals, and it is included in our Dystopian Fiction Collection as it begins with an imagining of a future where nature has been significantly diminished.

This book influenced environmental campaigners and eventually chemicals such DDT were banned around the world.

We have a First Perennial Classic Edition 1969 of the dystopian novel Brave New World By Aldous Huxley in our Dystopian Fiction Collection.

The novel was first published in 1932. It is set in a future where humans are engineered into an intelligence-based hierarchical society. There have been significant advances in reproductive and psychological manipulation technology, which are detailed in the novel.

One of the most important and relevant messages of Brave New World is the alarm raised by the novel about the dangers of technology. Using scientific and technological advances to control society may give more power to totalitarian states to change the way humans think and act.

We have a 1977 first issue Marvel Comic on Logan's Run in our Dystopian Fiction Collection.

The cover art is by George Perez and Al Milgrom. The story, which is part one of five parts, is by Gerry Conway (from the screenplay by David Zelag Goodman, based on the novel by George Clayton Johnson and William F. Nolan).

The blurb is as follows: Welcome to the 23rd century, where life is perfect. There's just one catch. At birth everyone is implanted with a life jewel in their palm. When they reach the age of thirty, the jewel informs them they must report for termination. Not everyone accepts this however. Some choose to run. That's where Logan comes in. Logan is a Sandman, charged with terminating those who do not submit willingly. Everything changes when Logan meets Jessica and learns the secret of the Ankh she wears. This leads him to be assigned to find Sanctuary, the destination of all runners. To accomplish this task, he must become a runner himself.

Marvel was started in 1939  as "Timely Comics", and by 1951 was mostly known as Atlas Comics. The Marvel era began in 1961, which was the year that they launched "The Fantastic Four" and other superhero titles.

We have a first Dell paperback 1969 edition of the dystopian novel Logan's Run written by William F Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Our copy is signed by William F Nolan on the first page. Our edition is the first film tie-in edition.

Logan's Run was first published in 1967, and it details a dystopian ageist future society where everyone is killed at age 21 in order to prevent over-consumption of resources. The film changed the age to 30 in order to have a wider pool of actors to take part.

The blurb at the back states:

The Youth Rebellion Had Triumphed...The young long since had taken over the Earth. Sex, drugs, kicks were unlimited. But the trip from grove to grave was quick. No one was allowed to live past 21. Logan was a Sandman, one of the elite police who hunted those who refused to accept their fate. Then Logan turned 21 - and suddenly he was desperately running, searching, in a world of cities beneath the sea, frozen arctic prison colonies, great hollowed-out mountains, abandoned cities... through a labyrinth of terror that lay between him and safety . . . between him and ultimate triumph...

We have a 1986 hardcover first U.S. edition of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale in our Dystopian Fiction Collection.

Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, published the first U.S. edition of The Handmaid’s Tale in 1986; Jonathan Cape published the first U.K. edition of The Handmaid’s Tale in the same year.

The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood in 1985. It is set in a totalitarian future USA "Gilead", where women are entirely under the authority of men. They are unable to read, write, own money or own property. A group of women called handmaids are enslaved to reproduce for women of the elite classes who appear to be infertile. The Handmaid's Tale was nominated for the first-ever Man Booker International Prize which represents the best writers in contemporary fiction.

In 2017, it was made into a major TV series, which has gained enormous popularity and is now in its fourth season. The costumes worn by the handmaids in the series have become a symbol of protest against female oppression across the world.

This replica of a handmaid's bonnet is in our Dystopian Fiction collection.

The outfit is described in The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, a dystopian novel set in a future U.S. governed by an extremist religious group, where women's rights have been drastically reduced, and many women are enslaved to reproduce. In the novel, the red cloak and dress, worn with a white bonnet, are described as a “modesty costume.”  It is intended to function as a sign of female subservience.

Since the 2017 Hulu series based on the novel, the costume has become a symbol of female protest against erosion of women's rights across the world. In 2017, women dressed as handmaids marched to Capitol Hill in Washington to protest at the Republican healthcare bill. Protesters against Donald Trump's visit to the UK also wore handmaid costumes.

It has also been used in Poland, Argentina, and Croatia in protests against laws affecting women's rights.