The English Utopias I.Early Modern Fantasies

Definitions, Genres, Scope of Study

Etymology, meanings

These things will be, and must be; but how they shall be least hurtful, how least enticing, herein consists the grave and governing wisdom of a State. To sequester out of the world into Atlantick and Eutopian polities which never can be drawn into use, will not mend our condition; but to ordain wisely as in this world of evil, in the middle of which God has placed us unavoidably.

1952

A. L. MORTON:“I have not felt myself too strictly bound by my

definition of Utopia as an imaginary country described in a work of fiction with the object of criticising existing society. Some such definition was necessary to keep my book within reasonable bounds, and it excludes from consideration both attempts to found Utopian communities and works in which the element of fiction is absent.”

The English Utopia, Seven Seas Books, Berlin: 1968 [1952], p. 12.

Definitions

1979

MANUEL and MANUEL: “eschew any definition of utopia” (KUMAR)

“Utopia thus became laden with meanings as it moved through time: a literary genre, a constitution for a perfectly restructured polity, a state of mind, the religious or scientific foundations of a universal republic.”

“Utopia could always be used either positively or pejoratively. (…) In English a utopian became a person who inhabits a utopia or one who would like to be in a utopia or has a utopian cast of temperament. Some men were utopographers, a seventeenth-century word for the writers or inventors of utopias. The researcher into the utopian propensity of mankind, though he is one of a long line going back to Aristotle, has no particular name, and must rest content with the plain appellation historian, though his subject has been dubbed utopology by a recent innovator.”

“The origin of the utopian propensity is, in an absolute sense, not knowable; its application and incorporation in given utopian configurations or constellations are. These become the main subject of our inquiry. ”

Frank E. Manuel and Fritzie P. Manuel: Utopian Thought in the Western World, Belknapp: Cambridge, MA: 1997 [1979], p. 2; 13.

Definitions

COMMON PRINCIPLE, BINARIESCHRONOLOGICAL LIST

1981

J. C. DAVIS:“The initial premise of this book is that a serious study of the political thought

of early modern utopias is warranted and in some respects overdue.”

“But utopian thought itself is not a tradition in the sense outlined above. (…) Its practitioners are not always aware of those utopian writers who have preceded them. In fact such awareness is very rare indeed. In that respect a greater number of utopian writers have been unselfconscious.”

“Utopian writing is not a tradition of thought (…) Rather it is a mode or type of ideal society, and what utopian writers have in common is not common membership of a tradition but their subjection to a common mode.”

“Is utopia a paradigm? No. For a paradigm is partly defined by its capacity for structural flexibility and transformation, its capacity to sustain, direct and finally succumb to evolving tradition. But utopia as a structure of thought is relatively unchanging. It is its sameness, its constancy which must be emphasised. The bold claim might be made that utopia as outlined here has barely changed in the last four and a half centuries.”

Definitions

Utopia and the ideal society: a study of English utopian writing 1516-1700, Cambridge, CUP: 1981, Introduction.

1981

J. C. DAVIS – classification:• Land of Cockaygne• Arcadia• Perfect moral commonwealth• Millennium• Utopia– totality of the change envisaged– closed-society nature– order/stability of the new establishment

Definitions

Utopia and the ideal society: a study of English utopian writing 1516-1700, Cambridge, CUP: 1981, Introduction.

IDEAL-SOCIETYLITERATURE

Krishan KUMAR:“As so often with concepts in the human sciences, it

seems best not to insist on some ‘essentialist’ definition of utopia but to let a definition emerge: by use and context shall we know our utopias.”

“A strict definition of utopia would serve no useful purpose; as Nietzsche says, ‘only that which has no history can be defined.”

Utopia and anti-utopia in modern times, Blackwell, Oxford: 1987, p. 26; 32.

Definitions

1987

1999

Gregory CLAEYS – Lyman Tower SARGENT:As a literary genre, utopia refers to works that describe an imaginary society in some detail. Utopian

thought construed more widely, however, is not restricted to fiction and includes visionary, millenarian, and apocalyptic as well as constitutional writings united by their willingness to envision a dramatically different form of society as either a social ideal-type or its negative inversion. Not all forms of imaginative literature and social and political thought, however,should be called utopian.

Utopianism - social dreamingUtopia - a nonexistent society described in detail and normally located in time and spaceEutopia or positive utopia - a utopia that the author intended a contemporaneous reader to view as

considerably better than the society in which the reader livedDystopia or negative utopia - a utopia that the author intended a contemporaneous reader to view as

considerably worse than the society in which the reader livedUtopian satire - a utopia that the author intended a contemporaneous reader to view as a criticism of

the existing societyAnti-utopia - a utopia that the author intended a contemporaneous reader to view as a criticism of

utopianism or of some particular eutopiaCritical utopia - a utopia that the author intended a contemporaneous reader to view as better than

contemporary society but with difficult problems that the described society may or may not be able to solve, and which takes a critical view of the utopian genre

Definitions

Gregory Claeys – Lyman Tower Sargent eds.: The Utopia Reader,New York University Press, New York and London: 1999, Introduction, p. 2.

MORRIS-KROSS:1. (near) perfect human condition, without conflict, attainable by a nation/society2. the idealized subject must in the mind of its author be an improved state that not only

could be but also should be implemented (no pipe dreams)3. the assumption of malleability of persons4. represents a superior alternative to the present to those who would give credence to it5. must be dystopian in nature, that is, a criticism of utopian ideas and schemes as

unworkable in practice6. must not represent mere escapism or the desire of a group with like interests (such as

artists or voyeurs) to associate only with those of the same interests for their own enjoyment or edification

Definitions

2009James M. Morris – Andrea L. Kross: The A to Z of Utopianism, Scarecrow Press, Lanham-Toronto -Plymouth: 2009. (The A to Z Guide Series, No. 36.)

Interdisciplinarity:• Literature• History• Intellectual History• Sociology• Church History• Philosophy• Political Science

Summary

Traditions:• Golden Age• Arcadia• Isle of Blessed• Land of Cokaygne• Millennium• Carnivalism

Hesiod: Works and DaysThe gods who own Olympus as dwelling-placedeathless, made first of mortals a Golden Race,(this was the time when Kronos in heaven dwelt)and they lived like gods and no sorrow of heart they

felt.Nothing for toil or pitiful age they cared,but in strength of hand and foot still unimpairedthey feasted gaily, undarkened by sufferings.They died as if falling asleep; and all good thingswere theirs, for the fruitful earth unstintingly boreunforced her plenty, and they, amid their storeenjoyed their landed ease which nothing stirredloved by the gods and rich in many of herd.

Golden Age

Fifth is the race that I call my own and abhor.O to die, or be later born, or born before!This is the Race of Iron. Dark is their plight.Toil and sorrow is theirs, and by nightThe anguish of death and the gods afflict them and

kill,Though there’s yet a trifle of good amid manifold ill.

Golden Age

Hesiod (eighth century B.C.)

Ovid: MetamorphosisIn the beginning was the Golden Age, when men of their own

accord, without threat of punishment, without laws, maintained good faith and did what was right. There were no penalties to be afraid of, no bronze tablets were erected, carrying threats of legal action, no crowd of wrong-doers, anxious for mercy, trembled before the face of their judge: indeed, there were no judges, men lived securely without them. Never yet had any pine tree, cut down from its home on the mountains been launched on ocean’s waves, to visit foreign lands: men knew only their own shores. Their cities were not yet surrounded by sheer moats; they had no straight brass trumpets, no coiling brass helmets and no swords. The peoples of the world, untroubled by any fears, enjoyed a leisurely and peaceful existence, and had no use for soldiers. The earth itself, without compulsion, untouched by the hoe, unfurrowed by any share, produced things spontaneously, and men were content with foods that grew without cultivation.

Golden Age

Ovid (43 B.C.– A.D. 17)

Vergil: Fourth EclogueNext, when now the strength of years has made thee

man, even the trader shall quit the sea, nor shall the ship of pine exchange wares; every land shall bear all fruits. The earth shall not feel the harrow, nor the vine the pruning-hook; the sturdy ploughman, too, shall now loose his oxen from the yoke. Wool shall no more learn to counterfeit varied hues, but of himself the ram in the meadows shall change his fleece, now to sweetly blushing purple, now to saffron yellow; of its own will shall scarlet clothe the grazing lamb.

Golden Age

Vergil (70-19 B.C.)

Horace: Epode 16 let us seek the fields,the happy fields and the islands of the blest,where the earth is not plowed, but yearly it yields the grain,and the vine is not trimmed, but forever flourishes,and the branch of the olive never fails to blossom,and the black fig, ungrafted, adorns its own tree,honey drips from the hollow oak, from the lofty hillsthe light-stepping spring comes splashing down.There the goats need no orders to come to the milking pails,and the flock returns gladly with swelling udders,and the bear does not growl as he circles the sheepfold at

evening,and the earth does not swell up with vipers.

Islands of the Blest

Horace (65-8 B.C.)

The Land of Prester John 21. Our land flows with honey and abounds with milk. In some parts

of our land, no poisons harm nor garrulous frogs croak, no scorpion is there nor serpent winding through the grass. Poisonous beasts cannot live in that place nor harm anyone.

22. In the country through one of our provinces flows a river called Ydonus. This river, flowing out of Paradise, winds through the whole province at various speeds and there are found in it natural jewels, emeralds, sapphires, carbuncles, topazes, onyx, beryls, amethysts, carnelians, and several other precious stones.

27. This grove is situated near the foot of Mount Olympus, whence a transparent spring arises, possessing every kind of taste. The flavor varies, however, each hour of the day and night, and lasts a three days journey, not far from Paradise from which Adam was expelled.

28. If anyone, even if he has fasted for three days, tastes of that spring, he will suffer no weakness from that day on, and will always be as a man thirty two years old, however long he may live.

Prester John

Source: “The Letter of Prester John,” quoted in George Boas, Primitivism and Related Ideas in the Middle Ages (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1948), 162.

The land of Prester John became one of the great myths of the late middle ages. Many explorers set out to find it; many reported back that they had. Found or not, the basic characteristics of Prester John’s land remained roughly the same. Prester John was the essence of the holy, Christian ruler, and the land he ruled was one where a true Christian could lead a fully Christian life, something not possible elsewhere.

Plato: Republic- You will admit that the same education which makes a man a good

guardian will make a woman a good guardian; for their original nature is the same?

-Yes.- I should like to ask you a question.- What is it?- Would you say that all men are equal in excellence, or is one man

better than another?- The latter.- And in the commonwealth which we were founding do you conceive the

guardians who have been brought up on our model system to be more perfect men, or the cobblers whose education has been cobbling?

- What a ridiculous question!- You have answered me, I replied: Well, and may we not further say that

our guardians are the best of our citizens?- By far the best.- And will not their wives be the best women?- Yes, by far the best.

Plato

- And can there be anything better for the interests of the State than that the men and women of a State should be as good as possible?

- There can be nothing better.- And this is what the arts of music and gymnastic, when present in

such manner as we have described, will accomplish?- Certainly.- Then we have made an enactment not only possible but in the highest

degree beneficial to the State?- True.- Then let the wives of our guardians strip, for their virtue will be their

robe, and let them share in the toils of war and the defence of their country; only in the distribution of labours the lighter are to be assigned to the women, who are the weaker natures, but in other respects their duties are to be the same. And as for the man who laughs at naked women exercising their bodies from the best of motives, in his laughter he is plucking ‘A fruit of unripe wisdom,’ and he himself is ignorant of what he is laughing at, or what he is about;—for that is, and ever will be, the best of sayings, That the useful is the noble and the hurtful is the base.

Plato

Plato (427? B.C.-347 B.C.)

Aristophanes: EcclesiazusaePraxagora. The rule which I dare to enact and declare, is that all

shall be equal, and equally share all wealth and enjoyments, nor longer endure that one should be rich, and another be poor, that one should have acres, far-stretching and wide, and another not even enough to provide himself with a grave: that this at his call should have hundreds of servants, and that none at all. All this I intend to correct and amend: now all of all blessings shall freely partake, one life and one system for all men I make.

Blepyrus. And how will you manage it?PR. First, I’ll provide that the silver, and land, and whatever beside

each man shall possess, shall be common and free, one fund for the public; then out of it we will feed and maintain you, like housekeepers true, dispensing, and sparing, and caring for you.

…BL. But suppose he choose to retain it [his money], and nobody

knows; rank perjury doubtless; but what if it be?

Aristophanes

PR. I agree. But now ’twill be useless; he’ll need it no more.BL. How mean you?PR. All pressure from want will be o’er. Now each will have all

that a man can desire, cakes, barley-loaves, chestnuts, abundant attire, wine, garlands and fish: then why should he wish the wealth he has gotten by fraud to retain? If you know any reason, I hope you’ll explain.

BL. ’Tis those that have most of these goods, I believe, that are always the worst and the keenest to thieve.

PR. I grant you, my friend, in the days that are past, in your old-fashioned system, abolished at last; but what he’s to gain, though his wealth he retain, when all things are common, I’d have you explain.

BL. If a youth to a girl his devotion would show, he surely must woo her with presents.

PR. O no. All women and men will be common and free, no marriage or other restraint there will be.

Aristophanes

Aristophanes (448? B.C.-380 B.C.)

Revelation of St. John (King James Version)21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the

first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Apocalypse

Pieter Brueghel the Elder:The Land of Cokaygne

QuotesGregory Claeys – Lyman Tower Sargent eds.: The

Utopia Reader,New York University Press, New York and London: 1999, Introduction, p. 2.

Paintinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

File:Pieter_Bruegel_d._%C3%84._037.jpg#filelinks

Sources