Utopian Literature

The literature of utopia, from its earliest forms to those found in modern culture, is a record of some of the most profoundly cherished human ideals and some of the most pathetic and comic examples of human errors. From Homer to Dante to Shakespeare to Tolstoy, the master writers have incorporated utopian elements in their view of life and in their works. Philosophers have founded their systems in the conception of a utopia, and social reformers have determined their practices to fit plans for utopian living arrangements. Landscapes, climates, governments education, human and animal nature have all been shown to be imperfect in utopian writings; proposals for altering them all have been advanced. The readings in the present anthology were selected to show the linear development of the utopian concept from past to present, to indicate the chief variations of the idea and relate these to other significant concepts, and to open up some lines of reflection. To see the mutations of the utopian dream through the centuries not only permits us to understand the intellectual tradition that has formed our own world; it reveals to us some of the deepest and most desperate needs of the human race and, in doing this, discloses the basic human drives that lie in our own hearts. (from the preface)