Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
This new edition of the Samuel Butler classic, first published in 1872, arrives in honor of its 150th anniversary, and features an updated package and new context for the book from one of today's great thinkers in science fiction, Annalee Newitz.
Setting out to make his fortune in a far-off country, a young traveller discovers the remote and beautiful land of Erewhon and is given a home among its extraordinarily handsome citizens. But their visitor soon discovers that this seemingly ideal community has its faults--here crime is treated indulgently as a malady to be cured, while illness, poverty and misfortune are cruelly punished, and all machines have been superstitiously destroyed after a bizarre prophecy. Can he survive in a world where morality is turned upside down?
Inspired by Samuel Butler's years in colonial New Zealand and by his reading of Darwin's Origin of Species, Erewhon is a highly original, irreverent and humorous satire on conventional virtues, religious hypocrisy and the unthinking acceptance of beliefs.
Synopsis
To celebrate its 150th anniversary, a bold new edition of the utopian/dystopian classic that gave Erewhon its name.
Synopsis
A utopian classic with a rich legacy-influencing authors from Huxley to Herbert and beyond-Erewhon satirizes Victorian society with biting insight still relevant today. When Higgs, a young traveler, stumbles upon the beautiful land of Erewhon, he soon discovers that its seemingly ideal culture is founded upon bizarre, unsettling beliefs. Crime is a sickness, while sickness is a crime; the greatest scholarly achievement is unreason, and all machines have been eliminated for fear of artificial intelligence. In a society that suppresses originality, the traveler and his values are a threat. Torn between escape and Arowhena, the woman he has grown to love, Higgs must contend with Erewhon's strange ways-and with the challenges they pose to his own beliefs.
Engaging with the work of Charles Darwin and inspired by the author's time in colonial New Zealand, Erewhon is a bright, irreverent, and enduring text about technology, religion, crime, and institutional rigidity. This new edition of the 1872 classic arrives in honor of its 150th anniversary, featuring a brilliant introduction contextualizing the book from one of New Zealand's great academic thinkers in science fiction, Dr. Octavia Cade.
Synopsis
When Higgs, a young traveler, stumbles upon the beautiful land of Erewhon, he soon discovers that its seemingly ideal culture is founded upon bizarre, unsettling beliefs. Crime is a sickness, while sickness is a crime; the greatest scholarly achievement is unreason, and all machines have been eliminated for fear of artificial intelligence. In a society that suppresses originality, the traveler and his values are a threat. Torn between escape and Arowhena, the woman he has grown to love, Higgs must contend with Erewhon's strange ways-and with the challenges they pose to his own beliefs.
Engaging with the work of Charles Darwin and inspired by the author's time in colonial New Zealand, Erewhon is a bright, irreverent, and enduring text about technology, religion, crime, and institutional rigidity. This new edition of the 1872 classic arrives in honor of its 150th anniversary, featuring a brilliant introduction contextualizing the book from one of New Zealand's great academic thinkers in science fiction, Dr. Octavia Cade.
Synopsis
" Takes] imagination of a very high order to see that machinery could be dangerous as well as useful." --George Orwell, celebrated author of Animal Farm and 1984 A utopian classic with a rich legacy-influencing authors from Huxley to Herbert and beyond-Erewhon satirizes Victorian society with biting insight still relevant today.
When Higgs, a young traveler, stumbles upon the beautiful land of Erewhon, he soon discovers that its seemingly ideal culture is founded upon bizarre, unsettling beliefs. Crime is a sickness, while sickness is a crime; the greatest scholarly achievement is unreason, and all machines have been eliminated for fear of artificial intelligence. In a society that suppresses originality, the traveler and his values are a threat. Torn between escape and Arowhena, the woman he has grown to love, Higgs must contend with Erewhon's strange ways-and with the challenges they pose to his own beliefs.
Engaging with the work of Charles Darwin and inspired by the author's time in colonial New Zealand, Erewhon is a bright, irreverent, and enduring text about technology, religion, crime, and institutional rigidity. This new edition of the 1872 classic arrives in honor of its 150th anniversary, featuring a brilliant introduction contextualizing the book from one of New Zealand's great academic thinkers in science fiction, Dr. Octavia Cade.