By: Thomas More Publisher: Penguin Classics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Penguin Classics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 176 Publication Date: May 06, 2003 Release Date: April 29, 2003
Not at all about the perfect society I got this book because of all the hype surrounding it, especially when something carries the title "Utopian society". Yet, after reading it I find that Utopia itself was never meant to be the "perfect" society, but rather a "different" society. In fact, Utopia is far from perfect, and people need to quit thinking that it is. As a STORY, Utopia is not all that exciting. Animal Farm is a much better book in my opinion.
Good food for thought if you can get past the writing I read this book out of curiousity mostly. Considering it was written several hundred years ago, it was a challenge to get over the dry writing. There isn't a story here as much as a listing of daily practices and customs in Utopia. Some silly, some almost ingenious.
The underlying theme is an example of a perfect society; but at aprice - personal freedoms. What I also found interesting was that a few of the ideals contridicted themselves throughout the novel. Everyone is equal, except for the non-king rulers. If this is a perfect society, why would there be crime in the first place? War is bad and nonsense, except when Utopian government finds merit in it. Everyone seeks out knowledge, but they need permission to gain it.
I found the writing very dry (most likely due to the period it was written) and almost like reading a text book. A good read however. Makes you think about personal freedoms versus a perfect society.
Silly and Appealing This is an odd little book. I read it years ago but only remembered the golden chamber pots. I reread it yesterday and today. The chamber pots are still there, as is a strange blueprint for an ideal society, or at least one version of ideal.
The account is in the form of a traveler named Raphael speaking to the author about his experiences in Utopia, an island in the New World. In Utopia there is no private property and no need for money as everyone's needs are met. Each person pursues their own happiness while simultaneously working diligently to care for the common good. Its citizens are happy, healthy and prosperous. Utopia, though, is less utopian than many current utopian visions since it still makes allowance for slavery, capital punishment and warfare.
At the end, after hearing Raphael's tale, the author dismisses the customs of Utopia as ridiculous, but almost in the next breath he wishes some of the practices were adopted in his homeland. This ambiguity mirrored my own reaction to the picture of Utopia -- silly, but in some ways strangely appealing.
A Surprising Saint I suspect this translation is a paraphrase of the original Latin. Nevertheless, it has the virtue of being lively and very readable. More is a Catholic saint, which makes much of what he says in Utopia very surprising indeed. The Tudor functionary who persecuted Protestant heretics advocates religious toleration, married priests, the abolition of private property and the pursuit of scientific knowledge as an end in itself. His criticism of society is breathtaking when one considers that there was no freedom of conscience or opinion in his time. The tone throughout is pleasantly witty, as More himself was. For those who can read old books, Utopia is well worth the effort.
Utopia: 'a place that does not exist' I first read this book in my impressionable and idealistic youth (some time in the second half of the last century). I've read it a couple of times since then and still enjoy the way that the book can be read as either a satire (my current preferred reading) or as a description of an ideal society.
This is a very short book and well worth reading - even for those of us without Latin who can only read it in translation.
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