Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
1. Introduction.- 2. Radicalism in a traditional society: The valuation of radical thought in the English Commonwealth, 1649-1660.- 3. Afterword: Reassessing radicalism in a traditional society: two questions.- 4. Conquering the Conquest: the limits of non-violence in Gerrard Winstanley's thought'.- 5. Formal Utopia/Informal Millennium: the struggle between form and substance as a context for seventeenth-century utopianism.- 6. Against Formality: one aspect of the English Revolution.- 7. Religion and the struggle for freedom in the English Revolution.- 8. Thomas More's Utopia: sources, legacy and interpretation.- 9. Goodbye to Utopia: Thomas More's Utopian conclusion.- 10. James Harrington's utopian radicalism and the narration of an alternative world.- 11. Conclusion
Synopsis
This book address the relationship between utopian and radical thought, particularly in the early modern period, and puts forward alternatives approaches to imagined 'realities'. Alternative Worlds Imagined, 1500-1700 explores the nature and meaning of radicalism in a traditional society; the necessity of fiction both in rejecting and constructing the status quo; and the circumstances in which radical and utopian fictions appear to become imperative. In particular, it closely examines non-violence in Gerrard Winstanley's thought; millennialism and utopianism as mutual critiques; form and substance in early modern utopianism/radicalism; Thomas More's utopian theatre of interests; and James Harrington and the political necessity of narrative fiction. This detailed analysis underpins observations about the longer term historical significance and meaning of both radicalism and utopianism.