Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

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IpseDixit
Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby IpseDixit » 2014-01-24, 22:33

I've realized that all the sci-fi and dystopic novels I know are by English-speaking authors. Conversely Italy has really, really little to offer for the lovers of these genres.

So I was wondering how the sci-fi and dystopic scenes are in other countries and if you could suggest me some good books. I'm mainly interested in books written in French, Spanish and Portuguese, but any suggestion is appreciated.

Патрислав Андреевич

Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby Патрислав Андреевич » 2014-01-24, 22:46

Not French, Spanish, nor Portuguese, buuuut... There’s a well-known Polish science fiction author Stanisław Lem. His books are considered classics of the genre. Especially his most popular novel, Solaris.

IpseDixit

Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby IpseDixit » 2014-01-24, 22:50

xivrox wrote:Not French, Spanish, nor Portuguese, buuuut... There’s a well-known Polish science fiction author Stanisław Lem. His books are considered classics of the genre. Especially his most popular novel, Solaris.


Oh yeah I know him and Solaris is on my whish/waiting list :lol: , probably the only one outside of the Anglosphere that I know.
Last edited by IpseDixit on 2014-01-24, 22:52, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby unikko » 2014-01-24, 22:51

look also at Russian (i. e. Кир Булычёв) and Hungarian s-f
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Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby md0 » 2014-01-24, 23:21

One of the earliest scifi stories comes from... Assyria :D

It's true that all known scifi works come from Anglo countries, or are third party attempts on recreating the Anglo genre.
If I were to write a scifi/dystopia novel (tried in the past),I know it would be very Anglo (and very Cory Doctorow).

I hope I come across an anthology of international scifi stories. They gotta exist somewhere.
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Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby Yasna » 2014-01-25, 0:05

I'm 340 pages into the German sci-fi novel Limit by Frank Schätzing and I quite like it. It's a near future scenario where the successful completion of a space elevator and a breakthrough in nuclear fusion have put humanity on a promising path. The story follows on the one hand a group of space tourists heading for the moon, and on the other the search for a beautiful Chinese dissident who has gone missing. Apparently these two story arcs are going to connect at some point. There's still plenty of time since the book is 1300 pages long...
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Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby linguoboy » 2014-01-25, 3:38

First novel I thought of was Carlos Fuentes' Terra nostra, but only portions of the story take place in the future. The bulk of the novel (and "bulk" is the right word) takes place during the reign of Philip II of Spain. I think some of Borges' work could be considered "science fiction". It's all worth reading at any rate.

I've heard great things about Die Haarteppichknüpfer (Miliardi di tappeti di capelli) and Frank Schätzing Der Schwarm (Il quinto giorno) but I haven't had a chance to read either of them yet.

A lot of the best French-language science fiction comes in the form of bandes dessinées. The series Les Cités obscures (Le città oscure) has been running for, what, thirty odd years now?
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Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby Yasna » 2014-01-25, 4:03

linguoboy wrote:I've heard great things about Die Haarteppichknüpfer (Miliardi di tappeti di capelli) and Frank Schätzing Der Schwarm (Il quinto giorno) but I haven't had a chance to read either of them yet.

I was rather underwhelmed by Die Haarteppichknüpfer. For a science fiction novel it felt awfully mundane.
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Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby ceid donn » 2014-01-25, 5:13

One of the important early sci fi writers was French: Jules Verne.

As for other writers in French or Spanish, you might want to check out the wiki pages:

Ciencia ficción española
Science-fiction franaiçse

As for recommendations you can always check user reviews on Amazon.fr and Amazon.es.

You can pretty much find sci fi writers in other langauges too through that language's wiki or through that country's Amazon site, if there is one. It's a good place to start.

And I'd like to make note, to my great pleasure, we now also have an award-winning Gaelic sci fi writer, Tim Armstrong.

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Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby Car » 2014-01-25, 17:30

Perry Rhodan is what comes to my mind first when thinking of German sci fi and you won't run out of reading material any time soon with that series. :yep:
Please correct my mistakes!

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Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby Varislintu » 2014-01-25, 20:15

There was a bit of a in-genre hit recently that was a dystopy: Teemestarin kirja ("The Book of the Tea Master") by Emmi Itäranta. It's about a future where water is a luxury.

HarperCollins is publishing it in English in the coming spring, apparently.

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Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby Car » 2014-01-26, 11:28

Stupid question, but what exactly is a dystopy? I searched for it, but the few results I found didn't seem to fit.
Please correct my mistakes!

IpseDixit

Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby IpseDixit » 2014-01-26, 13:22

Car wrote:Stupid question, but what exactly is a dystopy? I searched for it, but the few results I found didn't seem to fit.


Like 1984, Brave New World, the Handmaid's Tale, We...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia

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Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby Car » 2014-01-27, 16:53

IpseDixit wrote:
Car wrote:Stupid question, but what exactly is a dystopy? I searched for it, but the few results I found didn't seem to fit.


Like 1984, Brave New World, the Handmaid's Tale, We...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia

Thanks! I was searching for "dystopy", you'd think at least one of the results would have led to dystopia.
Please correct my mistakes!

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Re: Non Anglo-Saxon sci-fi / dystopic novels?

Postby Lada » 2014-01-30, 20:12

unikko wrote:look also at Russian (i. e. Кир Булычёв) and Hungarian s-f

The most famous and popular Russian sci-fi writers are Strugatsky brothers. I guess they are unknown due to the iron curtain but here most people won't name any anglo-saxon sci-fi writer (fans of the genre will do for sure), but will name them. Even if you're not a fan, you know Strugatskys.
I've read only one their book, in Russian it's Трудно быть Богом - Hard to be a God. It's highly acclaimed as their best work, so if someone wants to start reading brothers, that's the right book.


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