Utopian literature

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The novel Utopia, 1518 (illustration) by Thomas More: eponym for utopian literature.

Utopian literature is the name for a genre of literary works that deals with an ideal society, the realization of which is presented as conceivably possible in the future.

In contrast to the actual, current political and social reality, utopia takes on a role model function . This includes both abstract and real possible concrete utopias . In contrast to this, anti-utopia, also known as dystopia , serves as a deterrent.

The following article deals with individual literary works that are conceptually based on the idea of ​​utopia and whose literary content is consequently significantly influenced by it.

Utopia

Utopia is the title of a novel by the humanist Thomas More (Thomas More),published around 1516, which gave its name to utopian literature (original title: De optimo rei publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia, "From the best state of the state and the new island of Utopia" ).

The name "Utopia" comes from the Greek words ou (no) and topos (place) and means something like "not place". In English there is also a play on words on the Greek eu (good) + topos meaning “good place”. More's work is about the design of an ideal society, which does not exist in reality and which serves as a background foil for the criticism of the existing social and political order.

Utopian novel

A utopian novel is a literary work that deals with an ideal society or form of government that does not exist. Even if the term "utopia" comes from the novel Utopia by the English humanist Thomas More, the archetype of all utopias is Plato's state , the description of an ideal form of human coexistence that is conceivable but not feasible.

A characteristic of a utopian novel in the traditional sense is that it describes a closed society (for example on an island or in the distant future).

Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is a special form of utopia that is characteristic of the early 18th century, which was shaped by Pietism. Here a single person is transferred to an island where they learn to take care of themselves and develop their soul in accordance with the Pietistic ideals in a diary with God.

In the 20th century, negative utopias (see also: dystopia) emerge, in which the horror picture of a future state is usually depicted. These include Orwell's novel 1984 , published in 1949, or Huxley's Brave New World (1932).

Ideal state

The conceptual starting point of Thomas More's utopia is the philosophical conception of an ideal state by the Greek philosopher Plato (in his Politeia ) as a theoretical model of thought that claims, derived solely from logical-rational principles, the ideal interaction of social forces for the benefit of the community to construct. Although intended as a counter-image to an ideal Athenian state, Plato's " Atlantis " also exerts a utopian fascination in the dialogues of Timaeus and Critias .

Besides Plato's “Atlantis”, other ancient utopian models are Euhemeros ' “ Panchaia ” (in the work with the title Hiera Anagraphe ), Theopompos ' “ Meropis ” (in the work with the title Philippica ) and Iambulos ' Sun Island (the work on this is only fragmentary preserved at Diodorus ).

Basic concept

The forerunners of modern utopian literature that can be described as classic include Thomas More's Utopia (1516), Tommaso Campanella's Die Sonnenstadt (1623), Christianopolis (1619) by Johann Valentin Andreae and Francis Bacon's New Atlantis (1626).

The original basic conception of the utopia of an ideal state was based on the abstraction of the historically grown, current power relations, the results of which were understood as being arbitrarily and structurally afflicted with violence and which could not be granted long-term existence for the future - at least not a desirable one. The power of reality was thus opposed to the mind, whose reason and imagination rose above the imperfect conditionality of the present. The best of all imaginable worlds then took place beyond the “here and now”, whereby it was unimportant whether this ideal counterworld was set in a past mythical age ( the golden age ) or in a distant fairytale place (utopia).

An example of this is the forefather of utopia, Thomas More, from his work. Sharpened by the humanist's ability to think abstractly, systematically and rationally, Utopia served him as a radical and fundamental critique of the social conditions at that time. In this sense, the defender of utopia spoke after, among other things, advocating the abolition of private property in his utopian counter-image:

"So I have now described to you, as faithfully as I could, the constitution of this community, which in my opinion is not only the best, but also the only one that deserves this name ..."
" Isn't that an unjust and ungrateful community that lavishly bestows the noble, as they call themselves, and the goldsmiths (note: the bankers at the time) and others ... and that on the other hand does not care in the least for poor farmers, coal miners, day laborers, Carriers, blacksmiths, carpenters, without whom it could not exist ... "
“ Even more: the rich, not satisfied with lowering the wages of the poor by unclean personal tricks, still pass laws for this purpose. What has always been wrong, the ingratitude against those who have served the community well, was made even more hideous by them by giving it the force of law and thus the name of justice. "
“By God, when I think about it all, then each of today's states seems to me to be just a conspiracy of the rich who, under the pretext of the common good, pursue their own advantage and try with all the tricks and tricks to secure the possession of what they have acquired unjustly, and to obtain and exploit the labor of the poor for as little pay as possible. "

As Hiltrud Gnüg noted in her essay on the concept of utopia and the utopian novel , utopian literature began with the idea of ​​a rationally structured state system that, in its “best state”, enables a happy human society. According to this consideration, the reality that is perceived as defective is a historical one which - grown through selfish, false legislation guided by self-interest - can in principle be overcome by means of the effort of reason. Utopia is the "appeal to help reason gain its rights in history." (Hiltrud Gnüg: Utopie und utopischer Roman . Stuttgart 1999, p. 9)

On the one hand, the concept of utopia developed into the literary genre of the "utopian state novel" and the genre of social utopias, as represented by the utopian socialists and their successors, on the other hand, it was expanded to include science fiction and fantasy . With the socialist, anarchist and feminist utopian novels of the last 150 years, the classic basic concept of an ideal state imagined beyond historical developments changed to domination-free social designs that are derived from social movements and are in the process.

Islands and distant worlds

The scene of the oldest works of narrative utopian literature, above all the eponymous work Utopia by Thomas More, is usually an island that is at the same time as the narrator, but almost inaccessible far away. This notion is quite understandable in the age of discovery, as new worlds with other people and unknown cultures were found everywhere.

Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is based in some respects on the utopian novel and is characteristic of the early 18th century, which was shaped by Pietism . Here a single person is transferred to an island where he learns to take care of himself and where his soul develops according to the Pietistic ideals in a diary with God . In the strict sense, however, it must be doubted that this is a utopia, because no ideal community is portrayed, but a single fate is illuminated. It is not for nothing that the term “Robinsonade” was coined here. The great success of “Robinson Crusoe” led to attempts to combine the utopian theme with the Robinsonade: Johann Gottfried Schnabel's Insel Felsenburg is probably the best-known example of this.

Perhaps the last work in this category is the novel Erewhon by Samuel Butler (1872), which is set in a country that lies behind an almost insurmountable mountain range in New Zealand.

Future fantasies

With the complete discovery of the world and the closing of the last blank spots on the maps, this kind of utopian literature has outlived itself. Instead, the hope for a better world now lies in the future. A typical example of this is the novel Looking Backward (1888) by the American Edward Bellamy , whose narrator fell into a hundred-year sleep at the end of the 19th century and did not wake up until the year 2000. There he experiences the tremendous changes that have taken place since his time and have produced an ideal society.

HG Wells goes in a similar direction in his stories and novels. Although most of them are now classified more in the science fiction category, of which Wells can be considered a co-founder, there are transitions here too. The novel The Time Machine ( The Time Machine ) from 1894, the travel is in a distant future in which people seem to have reached the "paradise on earth", draw but in fact the real human being behaved. In this respect, HG Wells already anticipates the dystopias (anti-utopias) of recent literature in this work .

Anti-utopias

While in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the positive perception of technical development became the guiding principle of utopian literature, the disillusionment of crisis-ridden capitalism, the failure of the totalitarian state models of fascism and communism / socialism as well as the material battles of the world wars provided the new material for negative utopias ( Dystopia ).

Not only the consequences of political undesirable developments such as totalitarianism (best known here is George Orwell's novel 1984 from 1948 - published in 1949, furthermore Walter Jens novel No, The World of the Accused , 1950), but also misguided science are thematized in these works. So is Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World (English. Original Brave New World , 1932) in a still oppressive current vision of what happens when science is placed on ethics and the pursuit of personal happiness the only purpose in life. In many ways, Huxley takes up the ideas of Plato's Politeia in this novel . The boundaries of science fiction are exceeded here. In his novel Tono-Bungay , published in 1909, the British author HG Wells describes the consequences of unrestrained, global capitalism and foresees the Great Depression of 1929 with rare clarity.

Demarcation

A distinction must be made between a more theoretical conceptual utopian literature, which among other things leads to concrete models of utopian socialism , and the novel-like utopian literature, which ends in science fiction. The utopian novel is thus one of the roots of science fiction in the 20th century . Science fiction is characterized by the fact that technological developments are in the foreground - and the model of an ideal society (utopia) or a reign of terror (dystopia) is only described secondarily or not at all. It can be summarized that by no means every science fiction novel can be regarded as a utopian novel.

Examples

Utopias
Dystopias

literature

  • Wolfgang Biesterfeld: The literary utopia. Metzler, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-476-12127-5 .
  • Ernst Bloch : The principle of hope . 3 volumes. (Work edition, 5); Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-518-28154-2 .
  • Marvin Chlada : The will to utopia. Alibri, Aschaffenburg 2004, ISBN 3-932710-73-8 .
  • Frank Dietz: Critical Dreams. Ambivalence in American literary utopia after 1945. Corian, Meitingen 1987, ISBN 3-89048-114-0 .
  • Willi Erzgräber : Utopia and Anti-Utopia in English Literature. More, Morris, Wells, Huxley, Orwell. Fink, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7705-1975-2 .
  • Christopher Gill: Plato's Atlantis Story and the Birth of Fiction. In: Philosophy and Literature. 3, 1979, pp. 64-78.
  • Hiltrud Gnüg: utopia and utopian novel. reclam, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-15-017613-1 .
  • Horst Heidtmann: Utopian-fantastic literature in the GDR. Fink, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7705-2072-6 .
  • Klaus J. Heinisch: The utopian state. More - Utopia. Campanella - Sun State. Bacon - Nova Atlantis. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2001, ISBN 3-499-45068-2 .
  • Barbara Holland-Cunz: Utopias of the new women's movement. Concepts of society in the context of feminist theory and practice. Dissertation. University of Frankfurt am Main 1987. Corian, Meitingen 1988, ISBN 3-89048-115-9 .
  • Arnhelm Neusüss (Ed.): Utopia. Concept and phenomenon of the utopian. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-593-33592-1 .
  • Josef Niedermeier: Natural sciences and technology in the utopian state novels of the 16th and 17th centuries. From Thomas More to Francis Bacon. Förderkreis Phantastik, Wetzlar 1996. (Series of publications and materials from the Fantastic Library in Wetzlar).
  • Bettina Roß: Political Utopias of Women. From Christine de Pizan to Karin Boye. Ebersbach, Dortmund 1998, ISBN 3-931782-95-6 .
  • Rolf Schwendter : Utopia. Reflections on a timeless term. ID archive, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-89408-034-5 .
  • Ferdinand Seibt: Utopica. Future visions from the past. Orbis, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-572-01238-4 .
  • Peter Seyferth: Utopia, Anarchism and Science Fiction. Ursula K. Le Guin's works from 1962 to 2002. Lit, Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-8258-1217-1 .

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