LITR 5439 Literary & Historical Utopias

Final Exam Submission 2009

Joshua Schuetz’ Final Exam Posting

All purpose Overview A4 and B4 combined in one Essay

Introduction

Little did Sir Thomas More know the consequences that his work Utopia (1516) would have on culture, society and literature.  From the perspective of Raphael Hythloday, More envisions the political arrangements of the imaginary island country of Utopia isolated from the influence of the British Empire.  (Raphael is an allusion to the archangel who is the ‘purveyor of truth’ while Hythloday can mean ‘speaker of nonsense’).   Unfortunately for More, his staunch ideals led him to become a controversial figure in the court of Henry VIII.  Henry desired to nationalize the Church of England and become its supreme head.  When Sir Thomas opposed this, he lost his head.  However his message and visionary imagination has lived on these nearly five hundred years, growing and developing into a Utopian genre in contemporary literary studies.

Utopia and the Religious Imagination

 More’s keen mind coined the term Utopia with a double meaning: (Greek pun on ou-topos [no place] and ou-topos [good place]).  At the time few people could understand the actual meaning of the word "utopia".  His novel describes the city of Amaurote by saying, "Of them all this is the worthiest and of most dignity."   In Utopia private property does not exist, men and women are educated alike, and there is almost complete religious toleration.   It is believed that More based Utopia on the communalism in St. Luke’s Acts of the Apostles in the new Testament.  From this perspective, utopian thinking precedes More in the Scriptural account of the creation recorded by Moses as Genesis.  “In the beginning the LORD created the heaven and the earth.  .  . and He saw that it was good.”  But man’s disobedience and his willful nature caused his expulsion from the Garden of Eden or Paradise.  From that time on, man has strived with God and with himself to regain that perfect community.  Ehud Luz comments in Utopia and return: On the structure of utopian thinking and its relation to Jewish-Christian Tradition that all utopian thinking has its origins in Scriptural traditions, and cites the Exodus narrative as the epoch event defining the past and the future for the Hebrew nation.  For the Christian, that event is the resurrection story.

Utopias in Time and History: A Remembered Past

If we ask what are utopias’ relation to time and history we might answer that this lost past is a remembered past that recalls a history where perfection had its beginning.  This history pricks the imagination to attempt to reverse God’s thunder and reclaim, through community building, the promised land with a balance or equity among individuals, their community and nature itself.  Northrop Frye agrees that there is a ‘covenantal’ relationship of the future to the ideals of the past as he cites the example the US constitution as being part of the American ideal past. 

Bellamy’s Looking Backward-The Utopian Attitude

Following this line of reasoning we find a parallel between social change and upheaval to a ‘utopian attitude.’  The Puritans, seeking not only religious freedom, but also a return to the Christian community, landed in New England and founded ‘a city upon a hill.’  Others would follow to the New World with a hope for change and new possibilities.  From these beginnings, a new nation and a democracy arose.  This early democracy harkens back to Greek history, philosophy, the classical concepts of perfect societies of Plato (The Republic) and Aristotle and began a noble experiment in reconciling the individual to the community through a representative government.  But the practice of slavery resulted in conflict with the ideal envisioned in the Constitution resulting in Civil War.  Afterward, in the period of reconstruction and industrialization, these ideals rose again from those discontent with society, especially in the labor movement.  During this intense period, Bellamy’s novel Looking Backward 2000-1887 (1888) held the interest of many disenchanted Americans.  His book outsold all other books except Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  Bellamy envisioned an inescapable evolutionary process where the ills of the industrial society fall by the way via their inherent flaws and out of necessity for survival of society.  His utopia sees a future time (the year 2000) in Boston where the government owns and runs a society that is not property based.  Although Bellamy’s novel falls short in terms of a literary work, many of his insights were eventually realized.

Historical Utopias and the ‘Dystopic’  Community in Rand’s Anthem

There are numerous examples of historical utopias, sometimes called ‘intentional communities’ before and during Bellamy’s writing.  Examples include the Shaker Communities (1800s, early 1900s) based upon apocalyptic religious beliefs where a simple life was celebrated.  Brook Farm (1840s) was a Transcendentalist community that attempted to reconcile intellect and labor.  The Oneida Community (mid-1800s) and Twin Oaks in Virginia (1960s) are examples of other such communities.   Ayn Rand’s novel  Anthem (1938) displays the ‘dystopic’ features of such a communal society when there is a total loss of individuality in favor of the group.  In her novel, at some unspecified future date, society has regressed t technologically and advancement is either now carefully planned or not permitted to occur at all.  The individual has been eliminated by having the word ‘I’ removed from the language in favor of the collective ‘we.’  The novel’s protagonist Equality 7-2521, realizes that he was born with the ‘curse’ of thinking and questioning which violates the principles of Anthem’s society.   In spite of this prohibition, Equality 7-2521 has the imagination and courage to attempt to recapture the past and to rediscover what was lacking in his existence in ‘the City’.  He claims the name ‘Prometheus’ and takes ‘The Golden One’ as his partner.  Their quest for the freedom for others in the City becomes the hope of a new future. This dystopic novel displays a problem with utopias and why utopias fail:  the inherent dilemma of reconciling the individual’s self-interest and freedoms to the common good of the community.  Most utopian communities also are less than ideal partly because of their homogeneity.  In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland (1915) we find the idea that a utopic society can be seen as a uniquely feminist proposal.  In her all female communal society, the woman have focused on the communal rearing of children and an objective view of progress.  The women knew of their history and of their ancestors called the great mothers, but when Ellador was asked, 

"Have you no respect for the past?  For what was thought and believed by your foremothers?"  Ellador’s answer was.

"Why, no," she said. "Why should we? They are all gone. They knew less than we do. If we are not beyond them, we are unworthy of them—and unworthy of the children who must go beyond us."  

Ellador’s response rejects history as an obsolete advisor.  They survived their past and escaped from it, and introduced societal progress through education and commitment to societal goals.  In this context of developing their own standards for excellence and progress without the participation and contributions of men, (as Ruth Pilarte in her 2007 essay The Goal of Utopia noted) the role of the stereotypical woman is rebutted.

Alternative Utopia: Toni Morrison’s Paradise

Culturally diverse utopias are not common.  An historical example shows post-reconstruction Black communities springing up in Oklahoma.  None of these all Black towns remain today, but have been highlighted in Toni Morrison’s complex and multi-faceted novel Paradise.  Her novel views and critiques American culture from an all-Black perspective and may be studied as an alternative utopian novel.  Its nuanced narrative structure combines an historical-cultural perspective with a feminist voice and demonstrates the problem that arises when the language and objects of culture that defines the social values of the community become inflexible and dogmatic. At least in the fictional world of Paradise, race and gender oppositions are the two bases of community that proved destructive and led to the loss of integrity and a defeat of the ideal community.    

Dalsgard notes that Morrison’s relational and dialogical narrative approach highlights the significance of history and socio-cultural discourses in the composing of our lives.   As with our other class readings , we find that a story is not simply a story, but instead it acts to create, sustain, or alter worlds of social relationships.   In Paradise, Morrison demonstrates the power that stories have for community building (utopia), and paradoxically for community destroying (dystopia).                                                                   

Literary Theory and Narrative Form                                                                                                                          Viewed in terms of literary theory, Morrison’s choice of images and narrative strategies illuminates the problem of reinventing from within our present cultural order what we consider a utopia.  Using the creative power of words or language to create a utopia  through story-telling  suggests that through interaction with the story (text) the distance between what is desired (a better society) and what is lost (Paradise)  may be bridged.  I find that the literary theories of Bruner, Heidegger and Lacan intersect regarding language and reality.  Jerome Bruner’s essay the Narrative Construction of Reality contends that narrative as a form not only represents reality, but constitutes reality.  Martin Heidegger’s work Language holds that language brings man and his world into conscious existence; it shapes consciousness and perception, calling things into being.  Yet from a psychoanalytical perspective, Jacques Lacan contends what we desire is never quite attainable.  Although utopian literature does not in itself make utopias a reality, even if mythical, Ursula Leguin  believes these ‘myths’ are profoundly meaningful, and usable and practical in terms of ethics, insight, and of growth.   ‘Myths’ of the creation, the golden age or utopia, in particular, have traditionally critiqued, rather than simply replicate, cultural values by imagining an alternative social order.  From these imaginings  we see stories of hope.                                                                                      

Utopias as Stories of Hope                                                                                                                                                 Robert Louis Stevenson said that that “To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.”  In a sense, one side of hope is deepened by the pain of living.  Suffering, instead of dashing hope, may clarify hope.  In order to hope one must first have a sense of captivity, of being caught in the human condition.  Utopian thinking in this sense is an aspect of hope.  This is apparent in the Dream speech  of Martin Luther King. An apocalyptic Biblical vision is also alluded to in his speech given to the Memphis trashmen on April 3, 1968, shortly before his death:  “I don’t know what will happen to me.  We’ve got some difficult days ahead, but it doesn’t matter to me now; I’ve been to the mountaintop.  Like anybody I’d like to live a long life, but I’m not concerned about that now.  I just want to do God’s will.  And he’s allowed me to go up the mountain and I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land.  I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land.  So I’m happy tonight.  I’m not fearing any man.  Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord! “

In this speech, hope is a passion for the possible that shrinks the immensity of fears back toward reality and stimulating activity to begin, even if in small steps.  Ancient Greece provides the story of Pandora, the first woman created by the gods, and her box.  The gods gave her a box into which every god had put some blessing, but warned her not to open the box except in great necessity.  Seized with eager curiosity she opened the box allowing all the blessings to escape like butterflies.  When she thought all had flown out of reach, out of sight she heard a faint whisper from the box and opened it once more to find one blessing had remained - the blessing called hope. 

For the Christian hope is based upon the scriptural prophecy and promise of an afterlife and a new heaven and a new earth.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his classic work on the Christian community Life Together, discusses the sacrificial life in relationship to the community of all believers in Christ.

Summary    

Taken together, the utopian texts considered this semester provide fertile ground for critical thinking with respect to the basis of community and our current social structures.  Valuable insights gained from open discussion of the issues raised in these works may aid in promoting further utopian discourse.  I would contribute that a worthwhile objective for future classes could be: 

“How does a ‘Psychology of Hope’ arise from and intersect with utopian thought in the Novels presented in the class?”

I entered this course with little or no background in Utopian literature.  I come away from the course with several new and rewarding insights:  1) I have an appreciation for how the religious imagination has taken part in the development of utopian thinking.  2)   My research postings found scholarly work that contends that utopian thinking is grounded in an historical past, and by recalling this past,  society continues on a ‘utopian journey’ into the future.   3)  From the viewpoint of literary theory, narrative strategies can shape and illuminate how to reinvent or rework communities within our present culture.  4)  From a psychoanalytical perspective, utopian thinking is a form of hope or a dream for personhood within a genuine community.  This essay has attempted to review these insights by reviewing the course objectives and by focusing on the historical background, narrative strategies and the psychology of hope found in the Utopian genre.

Word Count 2241

Bibliography

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Bent, Geoffrey.  Less Than Divine:  Toni Morrison’s Paradise.  Southern Review, Winter99, Vol. 35 Issue 1, p145, 5p; (AN 1580311)

Bruner,Jerome. The Narrative Construction of Reality. From Critical Inquiry, Vol. 18, No.1, Autumn, 1991. The University of Chicago Press, pp 1-21.

Class Notes LITR 5439.  Class notes and web page reviews. Summer, 2009.

Dalsgard, Katrine.The One All-Black Town Worth the Pain: (African) American Exceptionalism, Historical  Narration, and the Critique of Nationhood in Toni Morrison's Paradise.  African American Review, 10624783, Summer2001, Vol. 35, Issue 2.

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Gauthier, Marni.  The Other side of paradise: Toni Morrison's making of mythic history.  African Review, Fall, 2005.

Heidegger, Martin. Language. From The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, Vincent B.     Leitch, General Editor, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.  New York, London, 2001, pp1118-1134.

Kang, Nancy.  As if I had entered a paradise: fugitive slave narratives and cross-border literary history. African American Review, September 22, 2005.

Kearly, Peter R.  Toni Morrison's Paradise and the Politics of Community.  Journal of American & Comparative Cultures, 15374726, Summer2000, Vol. 23, Issue 2.

Lacan, Jacques.  The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason Since Freud.  Ecrits:  a      selection/Jacques Lacan; translated by Bruce Finkin with Héloïse Fink and Russell Grigg, W. W.      Norton & Company, Inc.  2002, pp151-172.

Mazlish, Bruce.  A Tale of Two Enclosures: Self and Society as a Setting for Utopias. Theory, Culture & Society. Feb 2003, Vol 20 Issue 1, p 43-60, 18p.