Hannah Wells  

June 21, 2013    

Utopia: What is it Good For?

            As a devotee to the genre of dystopian literature, my exposure to utopian works was seriously limited. Erewhon was the UIL literary criticism novel a few years ago and I, admittedly, did not finish it. Perhaps my penchant for dystopian literature is related to my desire to study only Dante’s Inferno (never the ascent) reflecting a rather dark and cynical personality trait. Nonetheless, this semester, I dove into utopian literature, secretly crossing my fingers that each society would crumble before the end of the book, but finding great purpose behind the works. Utopia, then, is an ideal world created by authors to reflect current issues and problems. Historical utopias detach and escape from these issues to build a perfect community where larger problems can be scaled down and dealt with on the human level.

            One of the most attractive things about a utopian community is its ability to deal with large-scale problems on a smaller plane. Educational reform is simple for the women of Herland because they have far fewer children than Gilman’s 20^th century America. Likewise, recycling, air pollution and emissions issues are easily controlled in Ecotopia where the population is small enough to see the fruits of their labors.

The problem with defining utopia is the use of extremely broad and flowery terms like “ideal.” Thomas More’s ideal meant a land full of literary people who knew the law and practiced religion freely. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ideal was more freedom and equal treatment for women. In this admission lies the most serious problem with utopia, the fact that one person’s utopia is clearly another’s dystopia. Why, then, do we study utopia? My answer is, because utopian literature is a valuable study in genre, conventions and techniques, and historical context.

            Works of the utopian genre could easily continue to be taught because they allow for simple analysis based on shared conventions. For example, the common settings like Herland’s found, tropical civilization or Utopia’s uniquely created, autonomous island. It is clear that remoteness and separation are vital for utopias, but they also bring historical context and societal issues to the forefront. Ecotopia, set in the now independent northwest, is a stark warning against pollution and violence that students can find relevant. Similarly, Rand’s Anthem, a dystopia, is set in another “lost valley.” Ecotopia was lost due to a fight for independence; the world of Anthem was lost due to the destructiveness of man. Both lost worlds, perhaps serving as satire, warn the reader and comment on the author’s current situation. The common setting found in utopias, and sometimes dystopias, is a convention easily discovered by students.

Utopian literature can also be identified through the common convention of characters that convert to the common, utopian lifestyle and settle in the land. Van, and especially Jeff, gladly fit into Herland by the end of the text. Terry, the man who wouldn’t convert, is ceremoniously ejected from Herland. In Ecotopia, Will finds himself finally at peace after admitting that he wants to stay in utopia. When a character is unwilling to convert or is looking to escape, the genre has often switched from utopia to dystopia, like in Rand’s Anthem. These conventions satisfy the purpose of instruction by utopian works, but it is the texts’ characteristic incorporation of other genres that entertains.

            Without conventions from other genres, utopian literature would fall short of both Horace and Jefferson’s decree that literature simultaneously please and improve the reader. For example, Gilman’s Herland would be significantly less entertaining if it did not borrow from Romanticism. Utopian works often feature gardens, but the vivid descriptions of flora and closeness to nature found in Herland read like Wordsworth or Emerson. Subtly entwined into chapters about economics and population control, these Romantic accounts allow the reader pause. Another Romantic trait that adds to the reader’s entertainment in Herland is the presence of high emotion. Van’s love for Ellador is very spiritual and most unlike modern day romance.

            Ecotopia is a nice example of a utopian piece combining genres because if the author did not borrow conventions, his work would have fit in the category of literature of ideas. This is true of Ecotopia down to its narrative style. Without the sections marked by italics, Will’s personal journal, the book would serve as an informative pamphlet for future ideas. Further, the most entertaining parts of Ecotopia are influenced by conventions of romance and adventure stories. The sexual escapades of the narrator and others, perhaps included as social commentary on the loss of the 1960’s free love, reads like a romance novel and surely serves the purpose of entertainment. Finally, to break the monotony of informative text, Callenbach experimented with the adventure genre and wrote of packs of men attacking each other with spears and a later midnight escape attempt by the narrator. Without the borrowed conventions of other genres, Ecotopia would surely be designated as literature of ideas.  

            One problem with utopian fiction, despite its recognizable conventions, is the lack of relatable characters. Thomas More’s sage, Raphael, is barely developed, long-winded and far too wise for the common man. In Herland, none of the women are characterized strongly enough to be relatable. Gilman’s perfect land of women, created to expose the horrors of the real world, has no woman character realistic enough for a reader to sympathize with. Herland may fail as popular utopian literature because of this point. No single, woman role model emerges from the text and the men are clearly stereotypes. The problem with relatability is important as it widens the distance between attainability and disbelief of utopia.

As utopian literature’s value rose in my eyes, it became clear that this is due to its genre blending capabilities. My original feeling that utopian works would be bland, out of date and formulaic has changed because of the clearly blended nature of the genre. I plan to investigate speculative fiction for my next research post and I begin to wonder how utopian literature and speculative fiction might relate or blend (focus on Objective 1). Speculative fiction, unlike science fiction, has its base in reality and things that are currently happening, have occurred in the past or will come to pass in the future. Utopian works like Herland are not speculative fiction, they are much more satire. On the other hand, Ecotopia has a shot at speculative fiction because its utopia came into existence after a civil war arising from social unrest due to pollution, a crashed economy, increased violence and poor education, to name a few. My personal interest lies in the genre study possible in utopian literature and opportunities for reading and analysis in the high school.

If Sir Thomas More created the term utopia from the Greek for “good place,” then paradise may be more attainable than utopian fiction proposes. Perhaps this thought expands the definition and relegates popular literary utopias to extreme examples and satire.