The world is a very strange place, especially in these uniquely trying times — in the space of the past few months alone, the world has undergone what can only be described as a colossal shift, as all of our lives have been altered due to the pandemic.
Indeed, such have been the changes around the globe, that many netizens have taken to describing the entire year as a whole as a downright “apocalyptic” one, with global events and news headlines that seem taken straight out of a dystopian or thriller film.
And on that note, perhaps nothing would be more fitting in these times than indulging in a book or two in the speculative fiction genre — and if you aren’t inherently familiar, speculative fiction is essentially a literary genre that explores and examines the ideas of what the world as we know it could possibly be under a certain set of circumstances — think: alternative timelines, futures of highly advanced and sophisticated technology, excessively authoritarian governments — the possibilities are endless.
Speculative fiction may have been on the fringe of book genres for most of its existence, but modern times have certainly done their own takes on the genre as well, going beyond books to films and television. The visionary South Korean director Bong Joon-ho did his own take on the genre with his 2013 film Snowpiercer, a dark critique on social class divide in the not-so-far future where all of remaining humanity are swarmed together on an ever-speeding train — separated, of course, by their wealth standing.
In the television landscape, the British anthology series Black Mirror has also since gained a cult-following status for its darkly speculative takes on the sometimes disastrous intersections between highly advanced technology and human nature.
And if you’ve ever enjoyed any of the above titles and found yourself searching for even more in the similar vein, here are five books in the speculative fiction genre that you might want to get started on, and that are definite must-reads at least once in your life.
1. 1984 by George Orwell
No must-read list of speculative fiction would definitely be complete without mention of 1984, George Orwell’s classic and widely considered to be his magnum opus. In this classic offering of speculative fiction, Orwell imagines a society controlled and watched over by a government so authoritarian and omnipresent, it allows for little free thinking among its people. Orwell’s vision of society is so bleak and dreary, it’s since been referred to as a horror story of sorts, but its warnings on the dangers of propaganda, authoritarianism, and surveillance have remained starkly relevant through the years.
2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Another classic entry into the canon of speculative fiction, Ray Bradbury’s Fahreheit 451 imagines another bleak, dreary future, where societies are ruled by technology and all forms of the written word are on the brink of extinction. In Bradbury’s vision, humankind’s thoughts and ideas are formed primarily by non-stop shallow television, and the deep thinking procured by reading books has all but vanished. It’s a dismal prediction, but in today’s screen-obsessed world, its message rings ever more relevant as the day it was published.
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
It’s a difficult thing to describe Margaret Atwood’s tour de force of a novel, The Handmaid’s Tale — often considered her best, but perhaps what’s even more astounding to comprehend is that her disturbingly dark vision of a future where women are all but robbed of their agency and autonomy isn’t quite so far off after all. In an age where conservatism — of the dangerous kind — is at a high and nations are ruled by tradition-leaning authoritarians, Atwood’s novel has only grown ever more prescient and relevant than ever.
4. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro’s contribution to the speculative fiction landscape is quite a different, if rather unusual one, in the sense that his vision isn’t one that necessarily depicts a tragically bleak world controlled by an oppressive authoritarian rule. Instead, Ishuguro’s work lies on the quieter, more prospective end of the spectrum, where he utilizes science-fiction elements to essentially examine what it is exactly that makes us all human. Never Let Me Go is a quietly surprising, sometimes heartbreaking read on the human condition that’s best to dive into with as little prior knowledge of it as possible — and it’s one that stands in a class and genre all on its own.
5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Before Orwell’s 1984 even came along, Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel had already been making waves as one of the modern pioneers of its genre. Like 1984, which it reportedly influenced, Huxley’s version of a future imagines a state of complete totalitarianism, but through softer, less overt methods: that is, drugs and technology-assisted psychological manipulation. Published in 1932, Huxley’s work was perhaps more than anything a response to the events of his time, including the Great Depression, and to this day stands as one of the most visionary, forward-thinking, and horrific novels of our time.
Speculative fiction may have been largely undefinable for most of its very existence, due to its very ambiguity as a genre — it encompasses everything from thrillers to science fiction, as well as horror and fantasy, and quite literally anything in between. But if there’s anything this past year has proven, it’s that fiction — no matter how far-fetched and fantastical it may seem — is never really too far away from reality after all. The world today, as we know it, has every so often been likened to something straight out of a dystopian novel or disaster movie, and for that itself, is perhaps more than anything indicative of the very ambiguity of the genre — and of fiction in general, and proof that what we consider as ‘speculative’ will always be changing over time.
—alike.com.ph
REAL PEOPLE, REAL STORIES. WE COVER PERSONALITIES WHO ARE WORTHY OF MAKING THE HEADLINES. PROFILES, LIFESTYLE, CULTURE, ARTS, LITERATURE, ENTERTAINMENT—TELLING STORIES THAT MAKE US FEEL AND CELEBRATE LIFE. WE ARE ALIKE. FOR STORY PITCHES, PERSONAL ESSAY, LITERARY, AND ART SUBMISSIONS: EDITORIAL@ALIKE.COM.PH
FOR BRANDING AND MARKETING, VIDEO PRODUCTION, AND SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT — COLLABORATE WITH US: MEDIA@ALIKE.COM.PH
