Is it possible to create a better world? Can this be done without the image of an ideal world to guide us? What would such a world be like?
There has been a marked renewal of interest in utopian thought, as the exposed economic, social and political dysfunctions of modern society have forced us to re-examine our visions of the future. Yet the wealth of utopian literature on which we could draw remains inaccessible or poorly understood. This book readdresses this imbalance, with a collection of essays, each centred on a key passage in a canonical utopian work that challenges the commonly accepted interpretation of that work and allows us to examine it with fresh insight. At the same time, by contextualising each passage within the text as a whole, readers are enabled to reflect on the meaning and reception of the work and on its significance in the history of utopian thought. Broad in scope and original in approach, this textbook is an encouragement to students and scholars alike to read the utopian classics afresh.
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Utopian Moments is a collection of short essays designed to guide readers to informed engagement with the key works of the modern western utopian tradition. It offers a fresh and original perspective on utopian writings and their interpretation.
About the Author
John Morrow is Professor of Political Studies and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Author(s): J. C. Davis (Editor), Miguel Ángel Ramiro Avilés (Editor), Miguel Avilés (Editor)
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication Date: June 5, 2012
Language: English
Print length: 192 pages
ISBN-10: 1849666822
ISBN-13: 9781849666824
Book Description
Within literature, history, politics, philosophy and theology, the interpretation of utopian ideals has evolved constantly. Juxtaposing historical views on utopian diagnoses, prescriptions and on the character and value of utopian thought with more modern interpretations, this volume explores how our ideal utopia has transformed over time.
Challenging long-held interpretations, the contributors turn a fresh eye to canonical texts, and open them up to a twenty-first century audience. From Moore's Utopia to Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Utopian Moments puts forward a lively and accessible debate on the nature and significance of utopian thought and tradition.
Each essay focuses on a key passage from the selected work using it to encourage both the specialist and the reader new to the field to read afresh. Written by an international team of leading scholars, the essays range from the sixteenth century to the present day and are designed to be both stimulating and accessible.
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Utopian Moments is a collection of short essays designed to guide readers to informed engagement with the key works of the modern western utopian tradition.
About the Author
J.C. Davis is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of East Anglia. He has written extensively on the history of utopian thought and on political and religious thought in the English Revolution 1640-1660. He is the author of Utopia and the Ideal Society (1981), and numerous other writings on Utopian thought which are benchmarks in the field. Described as a 'brilliant and provocative iconoclast', he taught at a number of universities in the UK and abroad and set up the School of History at the University of East Anglia.Miguel Angel Ramiro Avilés is Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Law at Alcalá University and Visiting Fellow of Externado University (Bogotá, Colombia). He is member of the Monitoring Boby of the National Human Rights Action Plan. He was previously Senior Lecturer at Carlos III de Madrid University, where he was Deputy Director of the "Bartolomé de las Casas" Human Rights Institute and Director of the Human Rights Master Program.
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