utopia, an ideal commonwealth whose inhabitants exist under seemingly perfect conditions. Hence utopian and utopianism are words used to denote visionary reform that tends to be impossibly idealistic. The word first occurred in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, published in Latin as Libellus…de optimo reipublicae statu, deque nova insula Utopia [1516; “Concerning the highest state of the republic and the new island Utopia”]; it was compounded by More from the Greek words for “not” [ou] and “place” [topos] and thus meant “nowhere.” During his embassy to Flanders in 1515, More wrote Book II of Utopia, describing a pagan and communist city-state in which the institutions and policies were entirely governed by reason. The order and dignity of such a state was intended to provide a notable contrast with the unreasonable polity of Christian Europe, divided by self-interest and greed for power and riches, which More then described in Book I, written in England in 1516. The description of Utopia is put in the mouth of a mysterious traveler, Raphael Hythloday, in support of his argument that communism is the only cure against egoism in private and public life. More, in the dialogue, speaks in favour of mitigation of evil rather than cure, human nature being fallible. The reader is thus left guessing as to which parts of the brilliant jeu d’esprit are seriously intended and which are mere paradox. Written utopias may be speculative, practical, or satirical. Utopias are far older than their name. Plato’s Republic was the model of many, from More to H.G. Wells. A utopian island occurs in the Hiera anagraphe [“Sacred Inscription”] of Euhemerus [flourished c. 300 bce], and Plutarch [46–after 119 ce], in his life of Lycurgus, describes a utopian Sparta. The legend of Atlantis inspired many utopian myths, but explorations in the 15th century permitted more realistic settings, and More himself associated Utopia with Amerigo Vespucci. Other utopias that were similar to More’s in humanist themes were the I mondi [1552] of Antonio Francesco Doni and La città felice [1553] of Francesco Patrizi. An early practical utopia was the comprehensive La città del sole [c. 1602; “The City of the Sun”] of Tommaso Campanella. Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis [1627] was practical in its scientific program but speculative concerning philosophy and religion. Christian utopian commonwealths were described in Antangil [1616] by “I.D.M.,” Christianopolis [1619] by Johann Valentin Andreae, and Novae Solymae libri sex [1648] by Samuel Gott. Puritanism produced many literary utopias, both religious and secular, notably The Law of Freedom… [1652], in which Gerrard Winstanley advocated the principles of the Diggers. The Common-Wealth of Oceana [1656] by James Harrington argued for the distribution of land as the condition of popular independence. In France such works as Gabriel de Foigny’s Terre australe connue [1676] preached liberty. François Fénelon’s Télémaque [1699] contained utopian episodes extolling the simple life. L’An 2440 by Louis-Sébastien Mercier [1770; Eng. trans., 1772] anticipated Revolutionary doctrines. G.A. Ellis’s New Britain [1820] and Étienne Cabet’s Voyage en Icarie [1840] were related to experimental communities in the United States that revealed the limitations of purely economic planning. Consequently, Bulwer-Lytton, in The Coming Race [1871], invented an essence that eliminated economics altogether, and William Morris demonstrated his contempt for economics in News from Nowhere [1890]. Two influential utopias, however, had an economic basis: Looking Backward, 2000–1887 [1888] by Edward Bellamy and Freiland [1890; A Visit to Freeland…] by Theodor Herzka. H.G. Wells, in A Modern Utopia [1905], returned to speculation.
Utopia is a term for an imagined place where everything is perfect. It has been used to describe an imaginary world where the social justice is achieved as well as the principles that could guarantee it. Utopia symbolizes people's hopes and dreams. Utopia turns to be synonymous with impossible because an ideal life in a perfect society that it offers appears to be out of reach. The authors of utopias depict the societies similar to theirs but better organized. They also offer a detailed plan of how we can create such a society and how it might be run. The term was taken from Thomas More's novel Utopia, published in 1551, where he depicted an ideal society based on equalism, economic and political prosperity and where poverty and misery were eradicated. More's Utopia is inspired by Plato's Republic, which is considered the first utopian novel.
Most important utopian works include Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward [1888]; H. G. Wells' A Modern utopia [1905] and The Shape to Things to Come [1933]; Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed [1974], among others.
There are optimistic and pessimistic visions, the narratives that reflect optimistic world-view could be called utopia and the narratives that reflect pessimistic world-view could be termed dystopia. Dystopias challenges utopia's assumption of human perfectibility and negate the possibility of perfect societies. The dystopia uses the depiction of negative future and describes what will happen if certain current trends continue. Like utopias, dystopias suggest and depict the possibility to change their society, but, unlike utopias, they do not offer any hopeful solution to them and do not accept radically new future.
The utopian story is usually set in an isolated place, and people live there according to the principles of that location. There is a dictated and enacted ruling class, that is often considered as idealistic in practice towards the society and it establishes a society that has almost achieved perfection. Unlike utopian politics, dystopian governments are oppressive, and the citizens of the dystopian society do not have positive opinion about them. Both utopias and dystopias are set in the future and feature same elements but in different connotations, for example, more advanced technology and science. In utopian stories, it is believed that more advanced technology and science is used to enhance the human living conditions, like the absence of death and suffering. In dystopian stories, the more advanced technology is available only to the group in power to improve their oppression. Unlike utopian fiction, which often features an outsider as the protagonist, dystopias seldom do that.
The creation of imaginary worlds of dystopia and utopia is probably based upon author's optimistic or pessimistic perception of the world.
Because of his Humanist studies of classical philosophy, More had an ideal vision of morality that contrasted with the realities of his world, and one of the major goals of the Humanist movement was to integrate those ideals into real life. However, More knew that principles alone don’t get anyone very far in politics. More’s father was a notable judge and raised him amid politics and politicians, so he had seen how corrupt political life could be. A major theme of an early work, The History of King Richard III, was the deception and ruthlessness of rulers. The bloody War of the Roses, a vicious power struggle over the English throne that had thrown the country into chaos for much of the previous century, remained potent in English memory. In book I of Utopia, More accuses Hythloday of being too “academic” in his attitude toward advising rulers. More seems to be saying that one cannot simply represent ideal principles and then despair that corrupt leaders will never heed them. Instead, to gain influence, a conscientious political advisor must learn to play the game and to accept the realities of a world dominated by power and greed.
The Importance of Social Critique
In Utopia, More contends that thorough scrutiny of institutions is valuable and that conceiving of ideal or imaginary alternatives to reality may yield important insights into how institutions can improve. While some scholars have been tempted to read More’s Utopia as a set of recommendations for the conduct of real-world affairs, an outright critique of contemporary rulers and laws would not have been possible for More, who was a respected statesmen and close advisor to Henry VIII. The narrator More criticizes the fantastical accounts of the Utopians, effectively distancing the author More from Hythloday’s provocative recommendations, which include the abolition of private property. However, the extent to which the author More favors Utopian practices is unclear. In Utopia,More contrasts the problems of the real world, such as poverty, crime, and political corruption, with the harmony, equality, and prosperity of Utopian society, which suggests that More believes that at least some of the principles underlying Utopian practices are noble, even if the practices themselves are far fetched. In any case, in describing and critiquing Utopian society, More gives new perspectives on the problems and strengths of his own society.