Trump-Era Dystopian Novels
Submitted by gjohnsit on Sun, 12/31/2017 - 2:30pm
If you want to know the deepest worries of a person, check out what books they're reading.
So who is the winner of 2017? The Handmaid's Tale.
To say Atwood's chilling dystopian novel is having a moment would be a serious understatement. Not only has it seeped into all aspects of pop culture in 2017, from music to comedy to television and more, The Handmaid's Tale was also the number one most read title of the year, according to Amazon's Kindle and Audible sales. It beat out popular titles including Stephen King's It, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and even George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. It topped sales everywhere in the United States except for Ohio, Utah, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Not only was it a best-seller and a widely read title, but The Handmaid's Tale was also the third most wished for book of 2017.
... Following the election of Donald Trump, book sales rose 200 percent, according to Russell Perreault, the head of publicity of Anchor Books, who currently publishes The Handmaid's Tale.
Atwood's book wasn't the first dystopian novel to react to Trump's victory. That honor goes to "It Can't Happen Here".
In last week's New York Times Book Review, Yale professor Beverly Gage wrote that the novel is "making a comeback as an analogy for the Age of Trump."
"At a moment when instability seems to be the only constant in American politics, 'It Can't Happen Here' offers an alluring (if terrifying) certainty: It can happen here, and what comes next will be even ghastlier than you expect," Gage said.
Amazon says "It Can't Happen Here" is now temporarily out of stock. The same thing happened shortly after Election Day in November.
Lewis' book made the most immediate impact, but Orwell's 1984 had the largest impact.
1984 first made headlines last week when it shot to No. 1 on Amazon (one of the outlets that reports sales to USA TODAY’s list), after Trump disputed the size of his Inaugural crowd and made the widely dismissed claim that millions of illegal votes were cast against him in the presidential election.
... (1984’s previous high on USA TODAY’s list was No. 27 on June 27, 2013.)
1984 is only the third classic ever to hit No. 1 on USA TODAY’s list, which began in 1993. The others are Leo Tolstoy's 19th century masterpiece Anna Karenina in June 2004 when Oprah Winfrey selected it for her book club, and C.S. Lewis’ 1950s children’s fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia, in December 2005, the month a movie adaptation was released.
In the last week, the paperback publisher of 1984, Signet, has ordered a reprint of 500,000 additional copies.
Coincidently, 1984 and It Can't Happen Here also sold out in the UK around the same time for the first time ever.
Interestingly, the Trump Dystopian phenomenon isn't limited to just fiction. It is also spilling over into non-fiction.
The number one nonfiction best-seller, meanwhile, was Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny, a slim, intense 128-page volume drawing grim lessons from the totalitarian century that came before. "The danger we now face is of a passage from the politics of inevitability to the politics of eternity," Snyder writes, "from a naive and flawed sort of democratic republic to a confused and cynical sort of fascist oligarchy."
This rise in non-fiction dystopia is the most disturbing trend of all.
Comments
Ah yes, MSM has been beating the hysteria drums loudly
It's no surprise that the Handmaid's tail is there. I'm sure Democrats are gobbling them up.
1984 is more encouraging to me since that is obviously not a relevant part of plutocratic strategy.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
While the media is promoting hysteria
The PTB are promising paranoia. The police will be out in force this evening in New York and Las Vegas. There are going to be police snipers on rooftops and people will have to go through scanners. Once they make their way through them, in NYC they will be sent to separate fenced in pens. It's brutally cold in NYC and this is not my idea of a good time. You?
Me, I reread V for Vendetta. Preview of what's coming here.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
interesting that Brave New World isn't in the mix
The other day it occurred to me that the superfund sites, cities with lead in the water, and areas with terrible air pollution all help produce "deltas" for menial jobs.
Animal Farm seems apropos too.
It is difficult to paint a cheery future. Thanks for the dystopia
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Orwell . . .
took that idea from James Madison, but never gave the appropriate attribution.
Given my deep worries about events of the 17th C.
I was very happy to receive a 'wished for' biography of Louis XIII on the 25th.
The Wars of Religion and Thirty Years' War would not make enjoyable teevee viewing.
(Edited)
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
One book I've been hearing about
is Democracy in Chains
The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America.
"An explosive expose of the right's relentless campaign to eliminate unions, suppress voting, privatize public education, and change the Constitution. ... Google Books
There are 6 states left that haven't signed on for a constitutional convention. We've seen the Koch brothers working in the background getting republican governors in place and we have seen what those governors have done with their legislation. Kansas is a prime example of what's in store for the rest of us now that the republicans got their tax bill passe.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Flawer-Duh is another prime example.
They sent Rick Scott here to destroy what's left and he's not only succeeded, but he's going for Republican with (D) next to his name Bill Nelson's senate seat next year. And if the lackluster line up featuring warmonger Gwen Graham is any indication, I'd say the Dems are primed to lose again as far as the governorship goes. But that's what we get for relying on nothing but tourism and retired rich right-wingers from other states economically.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
OMG! Scott is going to run as a democrat?
Good grief, anyone stupid enough to vote for him?
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
It's Flawer-Duh. What else would one expect?
Save for Miami and maybe Broward County, the rest of the damn state is blood red.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
I think what TAC meant was that Nelson was a Republican
when he was governor of Florida, but he’s now a Democrat. I don’t know if Scott means to switch parties to challenge Nelson for his Senate seat.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
It's interesting that The Handmaid's Tale was written in the 80s
It just took us 40 years to start listening. 1984 took at least 40 years too. At this rate the great Trump era novel won't hit the bestseller's list till 2057.(and only if Thermophiles learn how to read)
On to Biden since 1973