Synopses & Reviews
The Utopia Reader is a timely and provocative collection of utopia texts ... and an excellent introduction to the vast field of utopianism.
--Moreana
Utopian literature has given voice to the hopes and fears of the human race from its earliest days to the present. The only single-volume anthology of its kind, The Utopia Reader encompasses the entire spectrum and history of utopian writing-from the Old Testament and Plato's Republic, to Sir Thomas More's Utopia and George Orwell's twentieth century dystopia, Nineteen Eighty-Four, through to the present day.
The editors of this definitive collection demonstrate the various ways in which utopias have been used throughout history as veiled criticism of existing conditions and how peoples excluded from the dominant discourse-such as women and minorities-have used the form to imagine empowering alternatives to present circumstances.
An engaging tour through the dissident, polemic, and satirical tradition of utopian writing, The Utopia Reader ultimately provides a telling portrait of civilization's persistent need to imagine and construct ideal societies.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Utopianism before Thomas More 6
The Golden Age 7
Hesiod, Works and Days 7
Ovid, Metamorphosis 8
Vergil, Fourth Eclogue 8
Earthly Paradises 9
The Garden of Eden 9
Genesis 9
The Elysian Fields 12
Pindar, Fragments 12
Islands of the Blest 12
Horace, Epode 16 12
The Middle Ages 13
Eden 13
Dracontius 13
The Land of Prester John 14
The Lawgivers 15
Solon 15
Lycurgus 16
Utopias and Utopian Satires 27
Plato, Republic 27
Aristophanes, Ecclesiazusae 56
The Prophets 59
Isaiah 59
HellenisticUtopias 60
Iambulus, Heliopolis 60
Saturnalia 64
Lucian, Saturnalia 64
The Millennium 66
The Revelation of St. John 67
II Baruch 67
Monasticism 68
The Rule of St. Benedict 68
The Rule of St. Francis 70
The Cockaigne 71
Telecleides 71
Cockaigne 71
3. The Sixteenth Century 77
Thomas More, Utopia 77
Francois Rabelais, The Abbey of Theleme 94
Michel de Montaigne, Of the Cannibals 99
4. The Seventeenth Century 104
Joseph Hall, Mundus alter et idem 104
William Shakespeare, The Tempest 105
Tommaso Campanella, The City of the Sun 106
Francis Bacon, New Atlantis 118
Gerrard Winstanley, The Law of Freedom in a Platform 126
Margaret Cavendish, The Inventory of Judgements Commonwealth 128
James Harrington, The Commonwealth of Oceana 137
5. The Eighteenth Century 141
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels 141
Louis Sebastien Mercier, Memoirs of the Year
Two Thousand Five Hundred 152
Nicolas-Edme Restif de la Bretonne, L'andrographe 163
William Godwin, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice 170
Timothy Dwight, Greenfield Hill 175
Antoine-Nicolas de Condorcet, Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind 176
Thomas Spence, The Constitution of Spensonia 180
6. The Nineteenth Century 182
Communal Societies as Utopias 182
Shakers 182
Frederick William Evans, The Shaker Compendium 183
The Millennial Laws 183
Shaker Covenant 185
Amana or the Community of True Inspiration 186
The Twenty-One Rules 186
Oneida 190
System of Criticism 191
Charles Fourier, Selections Describing the Phalanstery 192
American Fourierism 199
Albert Brisbane, Association 200
Charles Henri de Saint-Simon, Sketch of aNew
Political System 202
John Adolphus Etzler, The Paradise within Reach of All Men 206
Robert Owen, The Book of the New Moral World 207
tienne Cabet, Voyage to Icaria 219
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto 227
Samuel Butler, Erewhon 229
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward: 20001887 240
William Morris, News from Nowhere 273
Ignatius Donnelly, Caesar's Column 292
William Dean Howells, A Traveler from Altruria 301
7. The Twentieth Century 312
H. G. Wells, A Modern Utopia 312
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland 319
Yvgeni Zamiatin, We 329
Katherine Burdekin, Swastika Night 344
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World 347
Brave New World Revisited 362
Olaf Stapledon, Darkness and the Light 363
B. F. Skinner, Walden Two 372
Walden Two Revisited 390
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four 398
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Day before the Revolution 407
About the Editors 421
Review
"The Utopia Reader is a timely and provocative collection of utopia texts ... and an excellent introduction to the vast field of utopianism."-Moreana,
Review
"The Utopia Reader is a timely and provocative collection of utopia texts ... and an excellent introduction to the vast field of utopianism."-Moreana,
Review
"A highly readable investigation of [the] mores and systems of education that prepared women for a life of the mind, while at the same time indoctrinating them for conventional roles as wives and mothers." -Booklist,
Review
"Farnham has uncovered a wealth of information about a virtually untouched topic."
-Joan Hoff,Professor of History, Indiana University, Co-editor, The Journal of Women's History
Synopsis
Utopian literature has given voice to the hopes and fears of the human race from its earliest days to the present. The only single-volume anthology of its kind,
The Utopia Reader encompasses the entire spectrum and history of utopian writing-from the Old Testament and Plato's
Republic, to Sir Thomas More's
Utopia and George Orwell's twentieth century dystopia,
Nineteen Eighty-Four, through to the present day.
The editors of this definitive collection demonstrate the various ways in which utopias have been used throughout history as veiled criticism of existing conditions and how peoples excluded from the dominant discourse-such as women and minorities-have used the form to imagine empowering alternatives to present circumstances.
An engaging tour through the dissident, polemic, and satirical tradition of utopian writing, The Utopia Reader ultimately provides a telling portrait of civilization's persistent need to imagine and construct ideal societies.
Synopsis
The Utopia Reader is a timely and provocative collection of utopia texts... and an excellent introduction to the vast field of utopianism.--MoreanaUtopian literature has given voice to the hopes and fears of the human race from its earliest days to the present. The only single-volume anthology of its kind, The Utopia Reader encompasses the entire spectrum and history of utopian writing-from the Old Testament and Plato''s Republic, to Sir Thomas More''s Utopia and George Orwell''s twentieth century dystopia, Nineteen Eighty-Four, through to the present day.The editors of this definitive collection demonstrate the various ways in which utopias have been used throughout history as veiled criticism of existing conditions and how peoples excluded from the dominant discourse-such as women and minorities-have used the form to imagine empowering alternatives to present circumstances.An engaging tour through the dissident, polemic, and satirical tradition of utopian writing, The Utopia Reader ultimately provides a telling portrait of civilization''s persistent need to imagine and construct ideal societies.Table of Contents1. Introduction 12. Utopianism before Thomas More 6The Golden Age 7Hesiod, Works and Days 7Ovid, Metamorphosis 8Vergil, Fourth Eclogue 8Earthly Paradises 9The Garden of Eden 9Genesis 9The Elysian Fields 12Pindar, Fragments 12Islands of the Blest 12Horace, Epode 16 12The Middle Ages 13Eden 13Dracontius 13The Land of Prester John 14The Lawgivers 15Solon 15Lycurgus 16Utopias and Utopian Satires 27Plato, Republic 27Aristophanes, Ecclesiazusae 56The Prophets 59Isaiah 59Hellenistic Utopias 60Iambulus, Heliopolis 60Saturnalia 64Lucian, Saturnalia 64The Millennium 66The Revelation ofSt. John 67II Baruch 67Monasticism 68The Rule of St. Benedict 68The Rule of St. Francis 70The Cockaigne 71Telecleides 71Cockaigne 713. The Sixteenth Century 77Thomas More, Utopia 77Francois Rabelais, The Abbey of Theleme 94Michel de Montaigne, Of the Cannibals 994. The Seventeenth Century 104Joseph Hall, Mundus alter et idem 104William Shakespeare, The Tempest 105Tommaso Campanella, The City of the Sun 106Francis Bacon, New Atlantis 118Gerrard Winstanley, The Law of Freedom in a Platform 126Margaret Cavendish, The Inventory of Judgements Commonwealth 128James Harrington, The Commonwealth of Oceana 1375. The Eighteenth Century 141Jonathan Swift, Gulliver''s Travels 141Louis Sebastien Mercier, Memoirs of the YearTwo Thousand Five Hundred 152Nicolas-Edme Restif de la Bretonne, L''andrographe 163William Godwin, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice 170Timothy Dwight, Greenfield Hill 175Antoine-Nicolas de Condorcet, Sketch for a Historical Pictureof the Progress of the Human Mind 176Thomas Spence, The Constitution of Spensonia 1806. The Nineteenth Century 182Communal Societies as Utopias 182Shakers 182Frederick William Evans, The Shaker Compendium 183The Millennial Laws 183Shaker Covenant 185Amana or the Community of True Inspiration 186The Twenty-One Rules 186Oneida 190System of Criticism 191Charles Fourier, Selections Describing the Phalanstery 192American Fourierism 199Albert Brisbane, Association 200Charles Henri de Saint-Simon, Sketch of a NewPolitical System 202John Adolphus Etzler, The Paradise within Reach of All Men 206Robert Owen, The Book of the New Moral World 207tienne Cabet, Voyage to Icaria 219Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto 227Samuel Butler, Erewhon229Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward: 2000?1887 240William Morris, News from Nowhere 273Ignatius Donnelly, Caesar''s Column 292William Dean Howells, A Traveler from Altruria 3017. The Twentieth Century 312H. G. Wells, A Modern Utopia 312Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland 319Yvgeni Zamiatin, We 329Katherine Burdekin, Swastika Night 344Aldous Huxley, Brave New World 347Brave New World Revisited 362Olaf Stapledon, Darkness and the Light 363B. F. Skinner, Walden Two 372Walden Two Revisited 390George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four 398Ursula K. Le Guin, The Day before the Revolution
Synopsis
The American South before the Civil War was the site of an unprecedented social experiment in women's education. The South offered women an education explicitly designed to be equivalent to that of men, while maintaining and nurturing the gender conventions epitomized by the ideal of the Southern belle. This groundbreaking work provides us with an intimate picture of the entire social experience of antebellum women's colleges and seminaries in the South, analyzing the impact of these colleges upon the cultural construction of femininity among white Southern women, and their legacy for higher education.
Christie Farnham investigates the contradiction involved in using a male-defined curricula to educate females, and explores how educators denied these incongruities. She also examines the impact of slavery on faculty and students. The emotional life of students is revealed through correspondence, journals, and scrapbooks, highlighting the role of sororities and romantic friendships among female pupils. Farnham ends with an analysis of how the end of the Civil War resulted in a failure to keep up with the advances that had been achieved in women's education.
The most comprehensive history of this brief and unique period of reform to date, The Education of the Southern Belle is must reading for anyone interested in women's studies, Southern history, the history of American education, and female friendship.
About the Author
Gregory Claeys is Professor of the History of Political Thought at the University of London, and author of several books.
Lyman Tower Sargent, Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, is author and editor of numerous books including Extremism in America and Political Thought in the United States (also available from NYU Press).