8 Books about Living Under Authoritarianism
It is a time when many places around the world are grappling with shifts towards populism and various forms of authoritarianism, a time when looking at news or learning more about a place feels fraught with the weight of political oppression. Fortunately, this has been a pattern throughout the past century (and many beyond), so we decided to put together a range of novels that chronicle the experience of living under some form of authoritarian brutality.
Hans Fallada - Alone in Berlin, 1948
Set in Berlin in 1940, Fallada’s masterwork is based on the true story of a couple who become dissidents to the Nazi regime. The novel follows the residents of one street during this trying time as the Gestapo try to discover who is behind the campaign of defiance, while exploring the themes of morality, paranoid societies and hope and humour in the darkest of times.
Josef Skvorecky - The Engineer of Human Souls, 1978
A Czech classic that is labryinthine, ambitious and powerful, The Engineer of Human Souls is about contemporary society as well as about immigration, about exile and the secret police, about academia and the political, but above all it is a story of absurd comedy and tragic moral curiosity. A book that is well worth exploring and that covers large spans of the twentieth century, it is certainly a contender for one of the finest Czech works ever created.
Mario Vargas Llosa - The Feast of the Goat, 1998
This book has been called the ‘emblematic novel of 20th century Latin America’, telling the tale of dictatorship and power in the Dominican Republic. Vargas Llosa eloquently explores the effects of power and violence on the lives of both the oppressors and those they victimized. Moving between time periods and tragedies with deftness, it’s a book that leaves an impression long after the final page.
Ismail Kadare - The Successor, 2007
The Designated Successor was found dead in his bedroom at dawn on December 14.
Did he kill himself or was he murdered? This question slices through Ismail Kadare's thrilling work set in an atmosphere of shadowy fear and rumour in Albania. As the state insists that the leader died by his own hand, the rest of the world begins to doubt the tale. As the tension builds, Kadare draws us into a nightmarish world, blending dream and reality to produce a truly memorable book.
Patrick McGuiness - The Last Hundred Days, 2011
An engrossing debut novel that is based on the author’s own experiences in Eastern Europe, The Last Hundred Days is an account of the end of the Ceausescu regime in 1989 Romania. Told from the perspective of a young English student who arrives to take up a job he never applied for, it is a powerful snapshot of the demolition squads, dissidents, black marketeers, diplomats and common people, all watching as the regime hurtles towards its end and society teeters on the brink.
Adam Johnson - The Orphan Master’s Son, 2012
Adam Johnson’s 2012 tale is based on his own research covering North Korea, but the real mastery of this Pulitzer winning novel is the way it powerfully depicts totalitarian terror through the tale of one escapee, with sections told via the regime’s loudspeakers and an epic scale and ambition. It is dark, playful, surreal and definitely worth a read.
Svetlana Alexeivich - Secondhand Time, 2013
This book by Nobel winner Alexievich blurs the lines between interview, reportage and creative nonfiction. Uniting the voices of dozens of witnesses to the collapse of the USSR in a formidable attempt to chart the disappearance of a culture, combining extended individual monologues with a collage of voices, Alexievich creates a magnificent requiem to a civilization in ruins, a brilliant, poignant and unique portrait of the terrors and solaces of post-Soviet society.
Annie Zaidi - Prelude to a Riot, 2019
A parable set in an imaginary Indian town that seems far too resonant in current times, Annie Zaidi’s book is masterfully restrained, thought-provoking and powerful. A powerful socio-political commentary delivered through soliloquies and multiple perspectives, Prelude to a Riot is mainly about two families and their land, but it is also a tale that excavates intolerance and inhumanity with a deft touch.