Melissa Hodgkins

Utopia as Literature

Utopia, as I mentioned briefly in my Midterm Exam essay, is a term I have been relatively comfortable with since high school. I understood then the concept that utopia was a fiction. It was a good place that did not and could not exist. As this semester has progressed I have continually reaffirmed this understanding. Utopia is an ideal, but it is also a critique, it is a measurement of what is right and what is wrong within a society. These problems are specific to a writer’s time and place, and yet the resulting fiction remains for decades and centuries beyond the society of its genesis. I have asked myself repeatedly “why”? What is the point of utopian fiction and does it qualify as literature, that high-brow canonization that deems fiction worthy of study?

The answer lies in what constitutes literature. In his 2013 Final Exam Essay entitled “Utopian Literature: Alluringly Gnarled Reality” Jacob McCleese writes:

Literature is one branch on the humanities family tree. It exists in the space between history and philosophy, collecting runoff from both disciplines. Utopian fiction represents a perfect blend of literature, history, and philosophy setting it apart from other forms of fiction. Utopian authors use philosophy, in a rhetorically pleasing manner, alongside literary conventions to create worlds that have enticed readers for decades.

What McCleese is getting at is that the work of utopian literature exceeds the bounds of literary convention and seeks to critique and re-imagine a world that fulfills human potential in ways that exceed history’s knowledge of civilizations past or present. It is my assertion that utopian literature belongs in the canon because of the artistic merit that mingles with other interdisciplinary studies in the humanities providing literature that not only seeks to entertain, but also to inform.

          From the first text we studied this semester, Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, we have seen the great work of utopian literature in practice. Utopian literature from this first text seeks not only to critique society (as I have repeatedly examined) but it also seeks to reform it. As Steven Hutchinson writes in his article entitled “Mapping Utopias” More’s Utopia “reveals an extraordinary depth of insight and reflection into the nature of government and society and concerns itself passionately with questions of value… societal order, and justice, among others” (171). For example, Hytholoday is critical of English law’s treatment of thieves. They receive harsh punishments comparable to sentences for that of murder or other grievous crimes. Hytholoday explains that in Utopia it is beneficial for the crime to fit the punishment and where a man can be reformed efforts should be made to correct his behavior, not to further inflame the fire of criminality within him. “These are their laws and rules in relation to robbery, and it is obvious that they are as advantageous as they are mild and gentle; since vice is not only destroyed and men preserved, but they are treated in such a manner as to make them see the necessity of being honest and of employing the rest of their lives in repairing the injuries they had formerly done to society” (More 1.6). More is not only being critical of harsh punishments and unjust fines that are imposed upon English thieves of his day, but he is also re-inventing the wheel of justice by describing the Utopians’ version of punishment and reform. This work of identifying societal inequities and providing solutions, this great work of utopian literature, is in and of itself a convention of the genre.

          While it would not be difficult to more thoroughly examine More’s Utopia for philosophical problem-solving, such as Utopia’s focus on education (particularly as it applies to agriculture), religious freedom, and balanced governmental power to name a few, there is value in discussing form and how utopian literature is exemplified in the meeting of genres. While some critics have focused on Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s social critique regarding the treatment and options afforded women in a patriarchial society in her novel entitled Herland, others have found delight in her humor. Thomas Galt Peyser writes that “Herland itself may therefore be less of a prescriptive model than a prelude to a critique, a machine for dismantling popular prejudices with an eye to some future reconstruction” (Peyser 1). As he sees it, Herland employs the use of humor and satire to critique the plight of women. Like More, she writes sweeping passages that are eloquent and pleasing to the ear, and yet we can see clearly how the narrative of utopian literature has evolved, taking on the structure of the novel, but retaining the employment of satire evidenced in Utopia. Repeatedly, Van, Jeff and Terry are certain that this civilization of women will be in chaos, they expect to find inadequate women who will be grateful to be saved and reigned in by men. "They would fight among themselves," Terry insisted. "Women always do. We mustn't look to find any sort of order and organization" (Gilman 1.93).

          And yet what the men found was orderly and civilized. The women, through the phenomenon known as parthenogenesis, found a way to procreate without the reproductive efforts of men. Likewise, their society was cooperative, communal, and well-organized. At every turn the men faced a re-evaluation of their expectations of a society ruled and populated only by women. This strikes me not only as social critique but as an experimentation in form, in which the utopian genre is unfolded not only in a way that critiques and re-invents the structures of society, but that also features characters who undergo struggle and growth. In this capacity, the novel is evident.

          What remains elusive is not the conventions of utopia: the isolated and unblemished location, the socratic dialogue, the exchange of ideas, the assimilation or expulsion of the visitor, but the intangible quality that denotes this genre worthy of a status in the canon. Literature is art, it is comparable to a painting by a grand artist or a sculpture in a museum, but instead of paint and stone it is composed of words and ideas. As a literature of ideas utopia has worked overtime. We have seen how it critiques and solves problems, how it satirizes and corrects, but we have yet to define that artistic bent that makes it something MORE. McCleese illustrates this point well. He writes “A beautifully crafted line, from Anthem, comes after Equality has created fire. He writes, “We could not see our body nor feel it, and in that moment nothing existed save our two hands over a wire glowing in a black Abyss” (Rand 5.5). What happens in this moment is an emotional response, a connection to a character on a page, a heroic moment where the reader feels a sense of empowerment that transcends words. It becomes a victory for Prometheus and the reader. It is “As if the reader just saved the world from utter darkness and freed his or herself from blindness. Isn’t that a function of great literature? When a novel connects to the human spirit and lifts it to a sublime realm, that novel deserves the title literature” (McCleese).

          It is difficult to discuss utopian and dystopian fiction, especially in a seminar like ours, and not consider the value it has as literature in the classroom. No doubt, utopia’s transcendence of form and interdisciplinary focuses lend its study to a multitude of disciplines including sociology, philosophy, history and political science. As a literature of ideas, utopia explores what works and what doesn’t work; it offers solutions to the problems witnessed in the real world. It provides a platform for discussion in which, as in Sir Thomas More’s case, it is possible to question the powers that be, and to question your own feelings and perceptions about the world as it is, as it was and as it could be.

Asking ourselves “why?” and “how?” are powerful questions that have proved useful in terms of evaluating utopia and its ideals and may very well be why utopian and dystopian texts continue to enthrall us and frighten us as we take time to be introspective, to recognize parts of ourselves in the literature of this genre. Utopian literature is more than useful, it is art. Art that makes us feel, makes us transcend ourselves and recognize that we are part of something much bigger than our own lives and our own societies.

Works Cited

Hutchinson, Steven. "Mapping Utopias." Modern Philology 85.2 (1987): 170-85. JSTOR. Web. 8 July 2015.

McCleese, Jacob. “Utopian Literature: Alluringly Gnarled Reality”. 2013.

Peyser, Thomas Galt. "Reproducing Utopia: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Herland." Studies in American Fiction 20.1 (1992): 1-16. Project Muse. Web. 8 July 2015.