Five memorable fictional dystopias

Lawrence Norfolk is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Lemprière’s Dictionary, The Pope’s Rhinoceros, In the Shape of a Boar, and John Saturnall's Feast. He lives in London.

One of five memorable dystopias in fiction Norfolk tagged for the Daily Telegraph:

Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We was written in 1920 and circulated in Russia in samizdat form. In a society whose members are known only by numbers, D-503 is slowly awakened from political torpor by a woman, E-330. His diary chronicles his struggle against the state. Zamyatin escaped Stalin’s Russia (just) but for his characters there is no such escape.

Read about another book Norfolk tagged.

Also see Annalee Newitz's list of ten great American dystopias, Robert Collins' top ten list of dystopian novels, and Gemma Malley's top 10 list of dystopian novels for teenagers.

--Marshal Zeringue