Books like 1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World etc were influential due to the strong political and societal allegories they presented at the time of their release. They were very reflective of authoritarianism, communism and control that many countries were actually experiencing at the time.
Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you’re on, you can’t deny that we are living in very divisive and unprecedented times in regards to trump-era America, tech billionaires with their own agendas, the threat and uncertainty of AI, rising inequality particularly in the western world, rising anti immigration sentiment and of course the wars that are currently going on. I personally can’t help but think history is repeating itself.
So I’m wondering if there are any books, particularly ones written quite recently, that could be comparable to Orwellian and friends’ writing in that they serve as perfect allegories/critiques/speculative fictionalisations of the current political climate we seem to be in.
by -jarry-
4 Comments
*The Circle* isn’t a particularly well-written book, but it’s got an interesting premise. A tech company creates total surveillance that people willingly sign up for because they believe that being monitored will cause them to live to higher standards.
It’s not on that level and more satirical than straight, but Grime by Sibylle Berg hits on a lot of the modern trends that feel dystopian like corporatism, AI, oppressive surveillance and right wing populism.
George Packer’s _The Emergency_ is very much a fable written in Orwell’s style (Packer edited a collection of Orwell’s essays) about today’s culture and society.
Parable of the Sower