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The Last Utopians: Four Late Nineteenth-Century Visionaries and Their Legacy
The entertaining story of four utopian writers--Edward Bellamy, William Morris, Edward Carpenter, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman--and their continuing influence today
For readers reared on the dystopian visions of Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Handmaid's Tale, the idea of a perfect society may sound more sinister than enticing. In this lively literary history of a time before "Orwellian" entered the cultural lexicon, Michael Robertson reintroduces us to a vital strain of utopianism that seized the imaginations of late nineteenth-century American and British writers.
The Last Utopians delves into the biographies of four key figures--Edward Bellamy, William Morris, Edward Carpenter, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman--who lived during an extraordinary period of literary and social experimentation. The publication of Bellamy's Looking Backward in 1888 opened the floodgates of an unprecedented wave of utopian writing. Morris, the Arts and Crafts pioneer, was a committed socialist whose News from Nowhere envisions a workers' Arcadia. Carpenter boldly argued that homosexuals constitute a utopian vanguard. Gilman, a women's rights activist and the author of "The Yellow Wallpaper," wrote numerous utopian fictions, including Herland, a visionary tale of an all-female society.
These writers, Robertson shows, shared a belief in radical equality, imagining an end to class and gender hierarchies and envisioning new forms of familial and romantic relationships. They held liberal religious beliefs about a universal spirit uniting humanity. They believed in social transformation through nonviolent means and were committed to living a simple life rooted in a restored natural world. And their legacy remains with us today, as Robertson describes in entertaining firsthand accounts of contemporary utopianism, ranging from Occupy Wall Street to a Radical Faerie retreat.
For readers reared on the dystopian visions of Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Handmaid's Tale, the idea of a perfect society may sound more sinister than enticing. In this lively literary history of a time before "Orwellian" entered the cultural lexicon, Michael Robertson reintroduces us to a vital strain of utopianism that seized the imaginations of late nineteenth-century American and British writers.
The Last Utopians delves into the biographies of four key figures--Edward Bellamy, William Morris, Edward Carpenter, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman--who lived during an extraordinary period of literary and social experimentation. The publication of Bellamy's Looking Backward in 1888 opened the floodgates of an unprecedented wave of utopian writing. Morris, the Arts and Crafts pioneer, was a committed socialist whose News from Nowhere envisions a workers' Arcadia. Carpenter boldly argued that homosexuals constitute a utopian vanguard. Gilman, a women's rights activist and the author of "The Yellow Wallpaper," wrote numerous utopian fictions, including Herland, a visionary tale of an all-female society.
These writers, Robertson shows, shared a belief in radical equality, imagining an end to class and gender hierarchies and envisioning new forms of familial and romantic relationships. They held liberal religious beliefs about a universal spirit uniting humanity. They believed in social transformation through nonviolent means and were committed to living a simple life rooted in a restored natural world. And their legacy remains with us today, as Robertson describes in entertaining firsthand accounts of contemporary utopianism, ranging from Occupy Wall Street to a Radical Faerie retreat.
- GenresHistoryUtopiaNonfiction
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 29, 2018
About the author
Michael Robertson
346 books133 followersMICHAEL ROBERTSON works for a large company with branches in the United States and England. His first novel in the series, The Baker Street Letters, has been optioned by Warner Bros. for television. He lives in San Clemente, California.
Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 8, 2018
The word “utopian” has come to connote naivete at best and hidden fascism at worst (case in point for the latter: how the theory of shared wealth evolved into the Soviet regime). But I’ve always been drawn to small-scale utopian endeavors, which is why the title of this book immediately grabbed me. It covers four utopian thinkers who wrote when such ideas were reaching their peak: the years between the Industrial Revolution and World War One. I’m not going to go into details on each thinker, but what all their visions had in common, with varying degrees of emphasis, were income equality, equality between the sexes and for homosexuals, and a drive to get back to nature. Those themes continue to dominate utopian efforts today.
The book argues that utopian literature fell out of favor after World War One because wars in the machine age showcased humanity’s savagery like never before, so people could no longer believe in utopia. After the bloodbath of World War Two came the next logical step: not only had utopian theories gone out of favor, dystopian literature was on the rise, beginning with George Orwell’s classic 1984. As we see, as a genre, dystopian literature is still going strong today. We modern folks can accept cautionary tales about how badly humanity can mess up, but visions of a bright future for all seem pretty shaky.
But if literature is no longer the vehicle for utopian visions, small-scale utopian communities are. Thousands of them cropped up around the county in the 1960’s, and some of them are still in operation. Other types have started since then, but usually without that hedonistic 1960’s tint. The final chapter of the book is dedicated to these “intentional communities,” and it was definitely my favorite part. I added quite a few of the books cited there to my to-read list. And I might as well share that I’m deeply attracted to the few “intentional communities” that I know of and would love to move there, even though most of them these days keep their utopian ambitions modestly within their own borders and no longer strive to remake the whole world in their vision.
The author’s overall message is to redeem the image of utopian thinking and literature. He makes the case that it allows people to speculate about future solutions to societal problems, just as science fiction has been known to inspire technological invention. He is an academic, though, and his focus on the nineteenth century authors may be too narrow an interest for many readers. That's too bad because I suspect more people harbor utopian hopes than they’d readily admit. But if the phrase “utopian studies” resonates with you, I recommend this as a good intellectual background. Then, like me, you’ll have been introduced to an academic discipline you never even knew existed.
The book argues that utopian literature fell out of favor after World War One because wars in the machine age showcased humanity’s savagery like never before, so people could no longer believe in utopia. After the bloodbath of World War Two came the next logical step: not only had utopian theories gone out of favor, dystopian literature was on the rise, beginning with George Orwell’s classic 1984. As we see, as a genre, dystopian literature is still going strong today. We modern folks can accept cautionary tales about how badly humanity can mess up, but visions of a bright future for all seem pretty shaky.
But if literature is no longer the vehicle for utopian visions, small-scale utopian communities are. Thousands of them cropped up around the county in the 1960’s, and some of them are still in operation. Other types have started since then, but usually without that hedonistic 1960’s tint. The final chapter of the book is dedicated to these “intentional communities,” and it was definitely my favorite part. I added quite a few of the books cited there to my to-read list. And I might as well share that I’m deeply attracted to the few “intentional communities” that I know of and would love to move there, even though most of them these days keep their utopian ambitions modestly within their own borders and no longer strive to remake the whole world in their vision.
The author’s overall message is to redeem the image of utopian thinking and literature. He makes the case that it allows people to speculate about future solutions to societal problems, just as science fiction has been known to inspire technological invention. He is an academic, though, and his focus on the nineteenth century authors may be too narrow an interest for many readers. That's too bad because I suspect more people harbor utopian hopes than they’d readily admit. But if the phrase “utopian studies” resonates with you, I recommend this as a good intellectual background. Then, like me, you’ll have been introduced to an academic discipline you never even knew existed.
August 6, 2018
Oscar Wilde said that "A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth glancing at".
I have always had an interest in the late 19th century utopian thinks like Fourier and Owens. They designed (down to the smallest detail) utopian communities that actually were created and functioned on two continents. They were founded on socialist and egalitarian and utilitarian principles.
The author of this work looks at some lessor known utopian thinkers whose kingdoms were more figurative rather that material. They existed on the pages of their books and articles. These thinkers also were interesting in regard to their specific visions. One vision involved all female communities, and another vision involved homosexual communities. A bit more specialized!
This book wonderfully describes these vision and their relevance to current times.
Alas, this kind of thinking died out with the rise of Communism, and the social catastrophes of the world wars. We only see remnants of utopianism in the c0-housing phenomenon, various educational projects, some movements like Women and Gay Liberation, Occupy Wall Street, Farmers Markets, Burning Man in the Nevada desert, and maybe cruise ships and Disneylands. A distant echo from a once hopeful human effort.
I found this a delightful read and think it should appeal to anyone whose has ever glanced at Wilde's "atlas".
I have always had an interest in the late 19th century utopian thinks like Fourier and Owens. They designed (down to the smallest detail) utopian communities that actually were created and functioned on two continents. They were founded on socialist and egalitarian and utilitarian principles.
The author of this work looks at some lessor known utopian thinkers whose kingdoms were more figurative rather that material. They existed on the pages of their books and articles. These thinkers also were interesting in regard to their specific visions. One vision involved all female communities, and another vision involved homosexual communities. A bit more specialized!
This book wonderfully describes these vision and their relevance to current times.
Alas, this kind of thinking died out with the rise of Communism, and the social catastrophes of the world wars. We only see remnants of utopianism in the c0-housing phenomenon, various educational projects, some movements like Women and Gay Liberation, Occupy Wall Street, Farmers Markets, Burning Man in the Nevada desert, and maybe cruise ships and Disneylands. A distant echo from a once hopeful human effort.
I found this a delightful read and think it should appeal to anyone whose has ever glanced at Wilde's "atlas".
September 17, 2018
I enjoyed this in that I learned a lot of historical context I didn't know before, and learned a lot about the various authors' ideas and biographies which was all interesting and well written. I feel that I lost what the argument of the book was though after the introduction, although there were a lot of interesting ideas scattered throughout about the concept/history of utopian thinking, but I didn't come away with a solid idea of what the author was trying to say.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews