Utopian Moments: Reading Utopian texts (Textual Moments in the History of Political Thought)

"Within literature, history, politics, philosophy and theology, the interpretation of utopian ideals has evolved constantly. Juxtaposing historical views on utopian diagnoses, prescriptions and on the character and value of utopian thought with more modern interpretations, this volume explores how our ideal utopia has transformed over time. Challenging long-held interpretations, the contributors turn a fresh eye to canonical texts, and open them up to a twenty-first century audience. From Moore's Utopia to Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Utopian Moments puts forward a lively and accessible debate on the nature and significance of utopian thought and tradition. Each essay focuses on a key passage from the selected work using it to encourage both the specialist and the reader new to the field to read afresh. Written by an international team of leading scholars, the essays range from the sixteenth century to the present day and are designed to be both stimulating and accessible."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Cover 1 Contents 6 Contributors 8 Acknowledgements 12 Introduction 14 1 Systemic Remedies for Systemic Ills: The Political Thought of More's Utopia 20 2 More's Utopia: Colonialists, Refugees and the Nature of Sufficiency 27 3 Goodbye to Utopia: Thomas More's Utopian Conclusion 34 4 So Close, So Far: The Puzzle of Antangil 40 5 Microcosm, Macrocosm and 'Practical Science' in Andreae's Christianopolis 46 6 Tommaso Campanella, The City of the Sun and the Protective Celestial Bodies 53 7 'A Dark Light': Spectacle and Secrecy in Francis Bacon's New Atlantis 60 8 Gerrard Winstanley's The Law of Freedom: Context and Continuity 66 9 'De Te Fabula Narratur': Oceana and James Harrington's Narrative Constitutionalism 72 10 An Island with Potential: Henry Neville's The Isle of Pines 79 11 The Persian Moment in Denis Veiras's History of the Sevarambians 86 12 Nature and Utopia in Morelly's Code De La Nature 93 13 Sinapia, A Political Journey to the Antipodes of Spain 99 14 Condorcet's Utopianism: Faith in Science and Reason 105 15 Women's Rights and Women's Liberation in Charles Fourier's Early Writings 111 16 A Tale of Two Cities: Robert Owen and the Search for Utopia, 1815–17 118 17 How to Change the World: Claude-Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon 125 18 The Utopian Organization of Work in Icaria 132 19 The Horror of Strangeness: Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward 139 20 'The Incompatibility I Could Not Resolve': Ambivalence in H.G. Wells's A Modern Utopia 146 21 Utopian Journeying: Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed 152 Conclusion 159 Suggestions for Further Reading 165 Notes 169 Index 190 A 190 B 190 C 190 D 191 E 191 F 191 G 191 H 191 I 191 J 191 K 191 L 192 M 192 N 192 O 192 P 192 Q 192 R 192 S 193 T 193 U 193 V 193 W 193 Z 193 This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com.Is it possible to create a better world? Can this be done without the image of an ideal world to guide us? What would such a world be like?There has been a marked renewal of interest in utopian thought, as the exposed economic, social and political dysfunctions of modern society have forced us to re-examine our visions of the future. Yet the wealth of utopian literature on which we could draw remains inaccessible or poorly understood. This book readdresses this imbalance, with a collection of essays, each centred on a key passage in a canonical utopian work that challenges the commonly accepted interpretation of that work and allows us to examine it with fresh insight. At the same time, by contextualising each passage within the text as a whole, readers are enabled to reflect on the meaning and reception of the work and on its significance in the history of utopian thought. Broad in scope and original in approach, this textbook is an encouragement to students and scholars alike to read the utopian classics afresh.

Within literature, history, politics, philosophy and theology, the interpretation of utopian ideals has evolved constantly. Juxtaposing historical views on utopian diagnoses, prescriptions and on the character and value of utopian thought with more modern interpretations, this volume explores how our ideal utopia has transformed over time.






Challenging long-held interpretations, the contributors turn a fresh eye to canonical texts, and open them up to a twenty-first century audience. From Moore's Utopia to Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Utopian Moments puts forward a lively and accessible debate on the nature and significance of utopian thought and tradition.






Each essay focuses on a key passage from the selected work using it to encourage both the specialist and the reader new to the field to read afresh. Written by an international team of leading scholars, the essays range from the sixteenth century to the present day and are designed to be both stimulating and accessible.

Utopian Moments is a collection of short essays designed to guide readers to informed engagement with the key works of the modern western utopian tradition. It offers a fresh and original perspective on utopian writings and their interpretation.