Utopia
Описание книги
What we can learn from a Renaissance nowhere In 1516, a book was published in Latin with the enigmatic Greek-derived word as its title. Utopia—which could mean either “good-place” or “no-place”—gives a traveler’s account of a newly discovered island somewhere in the New World where the inhabitants enjoy a social order based purely on natural reason and justice. As the traveler describes the harmony, prosperity, and equality found there, a dramatic contrast is drawn between the ideal community he portrays and the poverty, crime, and often frightening political conditions of 16th century Europe. Written by Sir Thomas More (1477–1535)—then a rising intellectual star of the Renaissance and ultimately the advisor and friend of Henry VIII who was executed for his devoutly Catholic opposition to the king—Utopia is as complex as its author. In the form of a Platonic dialogue, Utopia explores topics such as money, property, crime, education, religious tolerance, euthanasia, and feminism. Claimed as a paean to communism (Lenin had More’s name inscribed on a statue in Moscow) as often as it has been seen as a defense of traditional medieval values, Utopia began the lineage of utopian thinkers who use storytelling to explore new possibilities for human society—and remains as relevant today as when it was written in Antwerp 500 years ago. Explore the issues like feminism, euthanasia, and equality through Renaissance eyes Early communist tract or a defense of medieval values? You decide. Peer inside the enigmatic mind of the man who dared stand up to Henry VIII Appreciate the postmodern possibilities of Platonic dialogue Part of the bestselling Capstone Classics series edited by Tom Butler-Bowdon, this edition features an introduction from writer, economist, and historian Niall Kishtainy.
Оглавление
Sir Thomas More. Utopia
Table of Contents
Guide
Pages
UTOPIA. The Influential Classic
With an Introduction by. NIALL KISHTAINY
AN INTRODUCTION
THE WRITING OF UTOPIA
THE ISLAND OF UTOPIA
UTOPIA AND THE REAL WORLD
MORE'S CAREER DILEMMA
A UTOPIAN IN TUDOR ENGLAND
MORE'S INTENTION IN UTOPIA
INTERPRETING UTOPIA
UNCOVERING MORE THE MAN
THE LEGACY OF UTOPIA
A Note on the Translation
REFERENCES
ABOUT NIALL KISHTAINY
I. LETTER: THOMAS MORE TO PETER GILES
II. LETTER: PETER GILES TO JEROME DE BUSLEYDEN
III. LETTER: THOMAS MORE TO PETER GILES
IV “UTOPIA” METER
VERSES
NOTE
V. BOOK ONE
VI. BOOK TWO
OF THEIR TOWNS, PARTICULARLY AMAUROT
OF THEIR MAGISTRATES
OF THEIR TRADES, AND MANNER OF LIFE
OF THEIR SOCIAL RELATIONS
OF THE TRAVEL OF THE UTOPIANS
OF THEIR WEALTH
OF THEIR LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHIES
OF THEIR LEARNING
OF THEIR SLAVES
OF THEIR DEATHS
OF THEIR MARRIAGES
OF THEIR LAWS AND PUNISHMENTS
OF THEIR FOREIGN POLICIES
OF THEIR MILITARY DISCIPLINE
OF THE RELIGIONS OF THE UTOPIANS
OF THEIR COMMONWEALTH
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Also available in the same series:
Map of Utopia by Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598) circa 1595
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The subtitle of More's opus – A Truly Golden Little Book, No Less Beneficial than Entertaining – raises the central critical problem of Utopia that its readers have been arguing about ever since: what did More intend? Is the book meant as a piece of literary entertainment or as social instruction? If we are meant to take its social arguments seriously, then which of the opposing characters' views are we meant to believe? Is the real More instructing us about how to take our own societies closer to perfection, or is he saying that this is a futile endeavour? Who speaks for the real More: the fictional More and Giles, the sceptics, or Raphael, the arch‐radical?
This sense of ambiguity runs through the text, which is full of word play and paradox, starting with the word utopia itself. It is a Greek‐derived neologism of More's that could mean ‘good place’ (eu‐topia) or ‘no place’ (ou‐topia). The river that flows through Amaurot is called Anyder or ‘waterless’ and the governor of Utopia is named Ademus, ‘without a people’. Even the shape and dimensions of the island described by Raphael turn out to be mathematically impossible. Raphael Hythloday bears as his first name that of the archangel who came to heal, yet the second part of his name means ‘peddler of nonsense’. Finally, More was fond of punning the Latin version of his name, Morus, the Greek for ‘fool’. It raises the question: if Raphael peddles nonsense, then why does the fictional More oppose him with the objections of a halfwit?
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