Author: Peter Edgerly Firchow
Publisher: CUA Press
ISBN: 9780813215730
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
Criticism on utopian subjects has generally neglected the literary or fictional dimension of utopia. The reason for such neglect may be that earlier utopian fictions tended to be written by what one would nowadays call social scientists, e.g., Plato or Sir Thomas More. That is also why earlier discussions of utopian fiction were usually written by critics trained in the social sciences rather than by critics trained in literature. To an appreciable degree this still tends to be the case today. Now, however, there is an additional difficulty, for the social scientists are critiquing utopias written by people who are primarily literary, for example, Krishan Kumar on Wells or Bernard Crick on Orwell. Inevitably much of importance--of literary importance--is simply disregarded, and so our understanding of modern utopia is correspondingly diminished. This book aims to put the fiction back into utopian fictions. While tracing the development of fiction in the writing of modern utopias, especially in Britain, it seeks to demonstrate in specific ways how those utopias have become increasingly literary--possibly as a reaction not only against the "social scientification" of modern utopias but also in reaction against the modern attempt to institute "utopia" in reality, notably in the former Soviet Union but also in consumerist, late-twentieth-century America. After an introductory discussion of how we understand--and how we should understand--modern utopian fictions, the book provides several examples of how those understandings affect our appreciation of utopian fiction. There are chapters on H. G. Wells's Time Machine; Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara; Aldous Huxley's Brave New World; George Orwell's Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four; William Golding's Lord of the Flies; and Iris Murdoch's The Bell. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Peter Edgerly Firchow, internationally recognized scholar and author of numerous works including Reluctant Modernists, W. H. Auden: Contexts for Poetry, Envisioning Africa: Racism and Imperialism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," and The End of Utopia, is professor of English at the University of Minnesota. "Firchow includes much that is praiseworthy in this short book on utopian fiction. . . . Firchow's work displays his very well informed explication and his ability, in most instances, to make literary texts come alive. His treatment of Wells's The Time Machine is simply outstanding. . . . I find his enthusiasm for his texts refreshing and his work on the end of history meticulous. Other scholars of utopian fiction will as well." -- H-Net Reviews "Utopian fiction has often been mangled in interpretation on the occasions when it has been read without a sense of irony, for the sake of political analysis, disregarding its artistic nature. To counterpoise such approaches, Firchow offers us a close reading of each of the chosen works, while also placing them in literary context," -- Janice Rossen, Partial Answers
Author: Herbert George Wells
Publisher: Sheba Blake Books
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 432
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Book Description
This edition of A Modern Utopia by H. G. Wells is given by Golden Eagle Publishing - Million Book Edition
Author: H. G. Wells
Publisher: e-artnow
ISBN: 802683996X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 222
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Book Description
This carefully crafted ebook: "A Modern Utopia (Complete Edition)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. A Modern Utopia is presented as a tale told by a sketchily described character known only as the Owner of the Voice. This character "is not to be taken as the Voice of the ostensible author who fathers these pages," Wells warns. He is accompanied by another character known as "the botanist." Interspersed in the narrative are discursive remarks on various matters, creating what Wells called in his preface "a sort of shot-silk texture between philosophical discussion on the one hand and imaginative narrative on the other." Because of the complexity and sophistication of its narrative structure, H.G. Wells's A Modern Utopia has been called "not so much a modern as a postmodern utopia." The novel is best known for its notion that a voluntary order of nobility known as the Samurai could effectively rule a "kinetic and not static" world state so as to solve "the problem of combining progress with political stability."
Author: H. G. Wells
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
A Modern Utopia (1905) is Wells' hybrid between fiction and philosophical discussion, reviewed as: "a conscious attempt to describe a utopia that is not utopian." Wells was unsatisfied with his earlier writings on the subject, proclaiming this as his last novel of its type, intended to "settle accounts with a number of issues." Don't let "Utopia" in the title fool you: "I have written into it as well as I can the heretical metaphysical scepticism upon which all my thinking rests."Because of the complexity and sophistication of its narrative structure, A Modern Utopia has been called "not so much a modern as a postmodern utopia." The novel is best known for its notion that a voluntary order of nobility known as the Samurai could effectively rule a "kinetic and not static" world state so as to solve "the problem of combining progress with political stability".
Author: H G Wells
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 226
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Book Description
We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades in its original form. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.
Author: H G Wells
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
In A Modern Utopia, two travelers fall into a space-warp and suddenly find themselves upon a Utopian Earth controlled by a single World Government.
Author: H Wells
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781718797321
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 270
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Book Description
A Modern Utopia is a classic science fiction novel by H.G. Wells. Because of the complexity and sophistication of its narrative structure, H.G. Wells's A Modern Utopia (1905) has been called not so much a modern as a postmodern utopia. The novel is best known for its notion that a voluntary order of nobility known as the Samurai could effectively rule a "kinetic and not static" world state so as to solve "the problem of combining progress with political stability.
Author: H G Wells
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781710540338
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 350
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Book Description
In A Modern Utopia, two travelers fall into a space-warp and suddenly find themselves upon a Utopian Earth controlled by a single World Government.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Author: H. G. Wells
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781499304688
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 266
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Book Description
H. G. Wells's proposal for social reform was the formation of a world state, a concept that would increasingly preoccupy him throughout the remainder of his life. One of his most ambitious early attempts at portraying a world state was A Modern Utopia (1905). A Modern Utopia was intended as a hybrid between fiction and 'philosophical discussion'. Like most utopists, he has indicated a series of modifications which in his opinion would increase the aggregate of human happiness. Basically, Wells' idea of a perfect world would be if everyone were able to live a happy life. This book is written with an intimate knowledge of former ideal commonwealths and is a conscious attempt to describe a utopia that is not utopian.
Author: H Wells
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781979163781
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 320
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Book Description
A Modern Utopia by H. G. Wells
