Utopia

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Damian Grace (University of Sydney)

The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

Domains

Literature Topic
Political Theory
Theory, Concept, Approach (social science)

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Utopian / Dystopian

In common usage, “utopia” and “utopian” are pejorative terms. Utopia denotes any impractical, fanciful or unrealisable political proposal or social strategy. Utopians are dreamers with an insecure grasp of reality. In scholarly circles, utopia carries few such negative overtones, but its meaning is still disputed (for a good overview of the controversies see Levitas, 1990). Some argue that it broadly encompasses any depiction of a perfect or best-possible society, embracing works from Hesiod, through Plato and More to B. F. Skinner (an example of this assumption is Kateb, 1963; for a broad sweep of early modern and modern utopias see Manuel,1979). Others argue that its reference is more restricted. This article will argue that, w…

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3499 words

Citation: Grace, Damian. "Utopia". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 November 2009 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1650, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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