Utopian Moments: Reading Utopian Texts(Textual Moments in the History of Political Thought)

Within literature, history, politics, philosophy and theology, the interpretation of utopian ideals has evolved constantly. Juxtaposing historical views on utopian diagnoses, prescriptions and on the character and value of utopian thought with more modern interpretations, this volume explores how our ideal utopia has transformed over time. Challenging long-held interpretations, the contributors turn a fresh eye to canonical texts, and open them up to a twenty-first century audience. From Moore's Utopia to Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Utopian Moments puts forward a lively and accessible debate on the nature and significance of utopian thought and tradition. Each essay focuses on a key passage from the selected work using it to encourage both the specialist and the reader new to the field to read afresh. Written by an international team of leading scholars, the essays range from the sixteenth century to the present day and are designed to be both stimulating and accessible.

Table of Contents:
1. J.C. Davis and Miguel A. Ramiro Avilés, Introduction 2. George M. Logan, Thomas More's "Utopia" (tbc) 3. Susan Bruce, Colonialists, Refugees and the Nature of Sufficiency 4. J.C. Davis, Reading "Utopia" 5. Bronwen Price, `A dark light': Spectacle and Secrecy in Francis Bacon's "New Atlantis" 6. Maurizio Cambi, Tommaso Campanella, the "City of Sun" and the guardian stars. 7. Edward Thompson, Johann Valentin's "Christianopolis" (tbc) 8. Nadia Minerva, So Close, So Far: the Puzzle of "Antangil" 9. Miguel Angel Ramiro Avilés, "Sinapia", a Political Journey to the Antipodes of Spain 10. John Christian Laursen and Cyrus Masroori, The Persian Moment in Denis Veiras's "History of the Sevarambians" 11.John Gurney, Gerrard Winstanley's "The Law of Freedom": Context and Continuity 12. J.C. Davis, «de te Fabula narratur»: "Oceana" and James Harrington's Narrative Constitutionalism 13. Gaby Mahlberg, An island with potential: Henry Neville's "The Isle of Pines" 14. K. Steven Vincent, Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794) (tbc) 15. Claudio de Boni, Nature and Utopia in Morelly's "Code De La Nature" 16. David Leopold, The Utopian Organization of Work in Icaria 17. Gregory Claeys, A Tale of Two Cities: Robert Owen and the Search for Utopia, 1815-1817 18. Jonathan Beecher, Women's Rights and Women's Liberation and the `Riddle' of Charles Fourier's "Theory of the Four Movements" 19. Neil McWilliam, How to Change the World: Claude-Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon 20. Matthew Beaumont, The Horror of Strangeness: Bellamy's Psychology of the Utopian Imagination in "Looking Backward" 21. Richard Nate, The incompatibility I could not resolve: Ambivalence in H.G. Wells's "A Modern Utopia" 22. Laurence Davis and Peter G. Stillman, Utopian Journeying: Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" 23. Lyman Tower Sargent, Conclusion

About the Author :
J.C. Davis is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of East Anglia. He has written extensively on the history of utopian thought and on political and religious thought in the English Revolution 1640-1660. He is the author of Utopia and the Ideal Society (1981), and numerous other writings on Utopian thought which are benchmarks in the field. Described as a `brilliant and provocative iconoclast', he taught at a number of universities in the UK and abroad and set up the School of History at the University of East Anglia. Miguel Angel Ramiro Avilés is Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Law at Alcalá University and Visiting Fellow of Externado University (Bogotá, Colombia). He is member of the Monitoring Boby of the National Human Rights Action Plan. He was previously Senior Lecturer at Carlos III de Madrid University, where he was Deputy Director of the "Bartolomé de las Casas" Human Rights Institute and Director of the Human Rights Master Program.