The Iron Heel

Description

A Realistic Dystopian Future In Which The Iron Heel Crushes Individualism

Jack London’s The Iron Heel is considered to be the earliest known work in the modern dystopian genre. It was first published in 1908 and while it hasn’t received much attention back then, it is now considered one of the most valuable soft science fiction work of that time.

In the novel Jack London predicts the rise of the Oligarchy in the United States. The Iron Heel as it is called manages to crush the middle class and bankrupt most small to middle size businesses. The novel is unusual in that it presents the first person account of a woman which was written by a man. Avid Everhard lives in the years of the rise of the Iron Heel and she manages to write the Everhard manuscript and hide it. Centuries later, a scholar named Anthony Meredith finds this manuscript and learns about the struggle of both Avid and her husband Ernest against oppression. He also corrects the views of Avid who is optimistic about the fact that socialism will overthrow the Oligarchy and restore the rights to all humans.

Jack London creates an unusual narrative, in that Antony already finds out about the tragic end of Avid and Ernest, how their love will be oppressed and how their struggles to be part of a revolution that will save humanity will fail, with them being summarily executed.

The author managed to predict the time when international tensions will peak in 1913, just one year before the historical tensions arose, which will lead to the start of the First World War. He also thought that socialism will rise and have a chance to win international elections, with the overthrow of Oligarchy and monopoly trusts.

The Iron Heel is one of those interesting novels you can’t let go until you have finished reading it – a dystopian masterpiece by one of the greatest American authors of the 20thy century.

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