![]() PDĪ different chapter in the utopian genre is represented by feminist utopia, which is especially concerned with the role of women in the power dynamics of a patriarchal society.Ĭharlotte Perkins Gilman and Lady Florence Dixie were important authors in the early movement at the end of the 19th century. This reflection – which has been shared since in many books and films (for example: Blade Runner, Matrix, The Truman Show) – brings us to some crucial questions: ‘Is there a real chance for the betterment of humankind and the design of fairer and more equal society? Are we condemned to live perpetually in the ‘best’ place possible? Do we live in a utopia for a few or a dystopia for many? And very pertinent now, are technology and science a positive or a negative enabler?'īook cover from "A Plunge into Space". In his novel Time Machine (spoiler alert), set in the futuristic world of Elois and Morlocks, Wells suggests that by creating a utopia for some, we may subjugate others to live in a dystopia. The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) and A Modern Utopia (1905) are the best examples of his imaginary future world.Ī decade of progress in Eugenics. Wells was also interested in biological engineering, particularly eugenics, controversial practices of that period that inspired some of the Nazi's racial policies and experiments. ![]() His novels foresaw some of the breakthroughs of our modern society like space travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television, and the World Wide Web. Wells was an exceptional writer who was nominated 4 times for the Nobel Prize. Wells and Jules Verne are considered among the fathers of the science fiction genre. The Royal Library: The National Library of Denmark and Copenhagen University Library. Wells were able to imagine the huge impact of new scientific developments for future societies, and thus ignited a turning point for utopian literature: the beginning of science fiction. ![]() Unlike the utopians, Karl Marx - the most important figure for socialism - advocated for a more egalitarian, communal, and meritocratic world using science and technology as driving forces.Īt the end of the 19th century, Marx as well as author H. The textile designer, poet, novelist, translator and socialist activist, William Morris was deeply concerned with environmental degradation and overpopulation in cities. DYSTOPIA VS UTOPIA HOW TODebates emerged about how to implement the ideas of utopian socialists like Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, Robert Owen or William Morris. Thinkers and philosophers were interested in how the extreme labour conditions of the emerging working class could be improved. Regardless of these scientific and humanist advances, the society of that time remained one of great social injustice and economic inequality. Movements against slavery and for women's rights began to be prominent.Ī n express locomotive on a railway track. In the 18th century, the French Revolution and its American counterpart brought the idea of universal rights and the need for political and social transformation to the utopian movement.īut it was during the 19th century, a prolific period for philosophical and technological changes due to industrialisation and great advances in science (Darwinism, railroads, telegraphs), that utopian literature as a genre started to flourish. ![]() Some of the classical examples are the New Atlantis (Francis Bacon), Erewhon (Samuel Butler), or Candide (Voltaire). Influenced by the discovery of the new continent by Columbus and the possibilities for the foundation of a new world order (which resulted in one of the most horrific genocides and the beginning of European colonialism), the book gave rise to a literary genre which features ideal places and well-organised societies. In fact, it is a satire describing a fictional island’s social and religious structure, which interestingly includes slavery as an unavoidable consequence of its functioning. Published by his close friend Erasmus of Rotterdam, another famous humanist, More's novel Utopia is ‘ a little, true book, not less beneficial than enjoyable, about how things should be in the new island Utopia’. Utopia (from the Greek for ‘no place’ or the good place’) was coined for the first time in 1516 by the English philosopher and lawyer Sir Thomas More. Biblioteca Virtual del Ministerio de Defensa. But what do these words really mean? To find out, let's trace the ideas behind utopia and dystopia through the history of literature and thought. Today we often hear the words utopia and dystopia used in informal conversations and in the media. ![]()
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