Grant Law

8 March 2019

          Pt. 1 The Utopian Garden Was Eden And Eden Is An Escape

The garden in Utopia literature is often a symbolic structure that represents freedom, individuality, and an escape from an overtly industrialized society all of which represent the pre-fall human who was without sin and corruption of civilization within the borders of the garden of Eden. This symbol of the garden as a return to nature and God, or in a more secular case the individualized self, promises nourishment of the body, mind, and soul all the while servicing the greater good of the people of the communities of the garden-state utopias. While reviewing the research posts, I found a variety of opinions concerning the garden within the utopian genre that approach the symbol in unique ways that challenged my notion of what I previously thought. I have chosen Jenna Zucha’s “The Garden of Utopia” that examines the natural state and representation of nature within all the texts over the course of the semester, Dru Watkins’s “The Bioethics of Ecotopia” an ethical examination of the biological garden of the body in Ecotopia, Joseph Bernard’s “The Utopia Without Borders” a more abstracted representation of the garden in the form of the national borders of Utopias being possibly dismantled, and the midterm of Michaela Fox “One for All, and All for.. None?” which argues against the possibility of harmonic unity and a pristine ecotopian garden. The first three of these essays listed explore the theme of the garden in a new perspective that works in conversation with one another discussing the symbolic, ethical, and biological elements of the garden in utopian literature. However, the later essay challenges the notions constructed in a conversation between these essays by asking if it is even possible to achieve an ideal, utopic garden-state society.

Jenna Zucha’s research post about the garden posits the symbol within the utopian canon as an “allegory for the actual process for creating and maintaining a utopic state.” She furthers this notion by adding the comments from critics Burrell and Dale who compare the process of maintaining control in the garden to the rise of what they called Garden cities in the United Kingdom. Through her allegorical claim about the utopian garden and introducing the Burrell’s and Dale’s Garden City term, Zucha illustrates that the need to control and maintain nature and to demonstrate the mastery over the natural world is an inherent drive for individuals both inside the literary landscape of utopian literature and the real world. For example, Zucha points out that Charlotte Perkins Gilman “portrays the garden in Herland as a well-cultivated forest that meets the needs of the entire community,” the word choice of cultivated creates the maintaining and controlling compulsion she argues for the utopian state and implies that the Herlanders have or are trying to maintain the facade that they control the environment of their community. Jenna Zucha’s essay highlights the utopian control over nature and through said control presents their fundamental beliefs and organization of their civilization.

Survival and biological stability is the main focus of Dru Watkins’ “The Bioethics of Ecotopia.” In this essay, Watkins takes biological and environmental concerns of the utopia in Ecotopia and examines the need for sustenance. This need for sustenance goes back to my initial claim that the garden is a form of nourishment for the utopian inhabitants and relates to Jenna Zucha’s post that if one can control the environment, master its cultivation, they can use it as a means for sustaining the life of the communities. For Watkins, the role of the food minister in the novel is the “basis for the ‘stable-state life systems’ which is the all-encompassing goal of Ecotopia.” Furthermore, Watkins uses Van Rensselaer Potter’s term for “bioethic,” which is a focus on “issues of therapy to the neglect of prevention” rather than patient autonomy and clinical trial testing, to establish his claim that the biological needs of humans are contingent on environmental concerns. The essay then turns back to Ecotopia to highlight that the Ecotopians “turned to their current state of government out of ‘self-preservation.” Through their heightened focus on environment and environmental focus, the Ecotopians treated their bodies and health concerns with preventative care much like the way they treat the environment of their nation. So, if Watkins argues that the Ecotopians value of preventive care is illustrated both in their self-care of the environment and their inhabitants, the Ecotopian’s utopian garden is then both in the maintenance of the natural world and their own bodies.

For the symbol of the utopian garden, borders are a paramount role in the process of protecting, maintaining, and keeping the community outside of the corrosive world which surrounds them. However, if given in a more abstract, ideological sense, that is to say, if like the two previous assignments asserted—the garden is an illustration of the control of utopic ideals and that preventative self-care can in fact position the garden in the body and the land of the utopian community—then Joseph Bernard’s “The Utopia Without Borders” examines the possibility of the eradication of borders in the utopian genre through the study of nomadic people. This essay bridges the two articles together in an abstract, ideological way through, what admittedly Bernard excludes, the examples of the open and sharing community of many of the utopias we have examined in the class so far. Shared living is a common practice seen in Utopia, Herland, and Ecotopia which breaks down the notion of personal borders between human connection. This is where I associate Bernard’s research in the possible utopia without borders with the shared living aspect seen in the previously mentioned texts. As pointed out in the essay, the Romani people have a rich sense of culture, identity, and practice all of which could compartmentalize themselves in a utopic lens except for their nomadic tendencies. If as Bernard says that the Romani people have developed “their own standards of living, building tightly woven familial communities that are free to practice their own modes of spirituality” and share commonalities amongst the literary utopias examined over the course then it is possible that there is an ideological, abstracted vision of the utopian garden without borders as a traveling community.

Michaela Fox challenges the notion of the garden that the three former students and myself have been working to cultivate through examining the dissonant components to the utopias discussed in the class. For Fox the process of erecting a utopia is an “attempt to enact multiple ideologies” and, ultimately, “conflict arises, and harmony subsides,” an opposite position to the idea of the utopian garden as a unifying factor. Fox uses Anthem as an example, which must be addressed is a dystopian wolf in a utopian sheepskin, and believes that the protagonist, Equality 7-2521(later Prometheus), “rejects his community’s concept of ‘we’ and instead seeks to establish [his own] society based on the unspoken word, Ego.” However, what the essay chooses not to acknowledge is the fact that the protagonist ends up in a pseudo-garden that creates the transformative releaziation from “we” to “I” and gives themselves the name Prometheus, the Titan who gave fire and knowledge to humanity. Therefore, while it is true that the society of Rand’s novella is constricting the narrative ends in an optimistic mood with the potentiality of hope for the utopian garden. For Fox, the collective good is the danger that challenges the individualization of the self and posits the utopian citizens in an ideological dystopia. While, admittedly, this is evident within the text, especially in Herland and Ecotopia, it is also based too, in part, on a preconceived American bravado of the fear of losing the individuality of oneself, which in of itself is a facade.

These three essays work in conversation with one another with the idea that the garden is a force that represents the self, freedom, and an escape from a domineering society. In Fox’s essay, however, she challenges this notion while not adequately addressing the possible narrative structures which yield the symbolic role of the garden within the novels we have read. Jenna Zucha’s argument helped me understand the domineering and control factor in the maintenance and construction of the garden as being analogous to the upkeep of the utopian community. Dru Watkins highlighted the possibility of the body as a component to the utopian garden by researching the bioethical elements of Ecotopia. Joseph Bernhard, in an abstract, quasi-tangential way, bridges these two ideas-maintenance of the garden as an analog example of the utopian construction and the biological self-care of the individual-by exploring the possible idea of a utopia without borders through the study of nomadic people. If the garden can take on different forms and interpretations as illustrated in these three research posts, then that means the garden is a more all-encompassing and engrossing force that illustrates the utopian ideal.

Pt.2. The Postmodern Utopia: Everything is Changing While Staying the Same

          Utopias have held a polarized position in the views of many individuals throughout the years. Either the concept of utopias are dismissed or heralded as the best possible societies at large. However, a singular definition escapes most individuals when asked to provide an exact example or definition of a utopia. Naturally, this is common as individuals have different interpretations on all subject matters, especially ones that impact their lives, but that does not mean there is not a basic definition for utopias. Literary utopias have existed since Plato’s Republic and continue to permeate the circulation of YA novels of today. Historical utopias have proven to yield precious fruits; for example, if one is to believe the pilgrims were in some sense a utopian society they did birth a nation in a roundabout way. The literary utopia is understood as a genre that features a narrative that presents a perfect society separated from the outside world but comments on and takes from the real world which drives its fictional settings. The historical utopia, or as they are referred to now, intentional communities work similarly except for the fact that they exist and actively reject the society which they are escaping. Both work towards understanding and imagining the world in a new, productive way and impact individuals in the way they think about themselves and their societies, myself included.

Upon entering the class this semester the only information I had on the subject of utopias was primarily through film, Brazil, Stalker, and They Live, and YA novels such as The Giver, Anthem, and Animal Farm. While many novels, primarily all within the genre of literary fiction, I have read share some similarities with the utopian genres, overt dialogue or an idyllic society on the verge of collapse, they always broke away from the genre. This breakaway is because of how hard it is to write a compelling narrative without struggle or plight and without falling into a binary world view. The genre itself receives unfair criticism because of this weakness, however. While it is hard to write a compelling utopian narrative the genre itself should not be removed from the realm of literary or critical analysis. The genre, while certainly lacking in conventional standards of what constitutes serious literary discussion, reflects an inherent desire in the human condition for the search of a better life, something that is representative, somewhat, at the beginning of America as a nation.

It is interesting to note that the process of growing up in America has ideologically conditioned me, to some degree, conscious or unconscious, to be hesitant of the utopian society because of the fear that is readily internalized within the country against communism and socialism. This is not to say I share these sentiments, in fact, I sympathize and support the latter two political movements vehemently; however, it is something to note that growing up in American public schools post Cold War that myself and many other students have read dystopias as cautionary tales against the dangers of the communist red state (Anthem, Animal Farm, The Giver). This then posits the question: Why is there such a resistance to radical change towards not only a better future but the best future possible? Under a Marxist lens, one could easily understand that the resistant towards the inclination of better tomorrow is through the ideological stranglehold of the bourgeoisie. The fact that so many individuals readily dismiss utopias as “pipe-dreams” or throw comments such as “they will never work” is emblematic of the systemic conditioning that would ultimately better their lives. However, the fact that utopias are challenging to achieve, if not impossible due to the internal fighting and narcissism of the human experience, does warrant the skepticism and logical downgrading towards a more realistic goal in society. However, to dismiss the utopian ideal or genre from critical thought or the literary field is just as dangerous and negligent, as the genre has proven to influence human and social rights as well as politics at large.

Utopias, much like any literary genre, have trappings and conventions that define them and provide markers for an educated reader to understand if they are reading a utopian piece of fiction. For example, if one were to idly sit by and read a novel they picked up randomly at their local library and found page after page of dialogue which entails features, cataloging, and historical documentation of the society within the novel they would find themselves reading a utopian novel. This is not to say that dialogue and cataloging are exclusive to the utopian genre. Dialogue is a component of craft and cataloging can be found in epics and in many other literary genres for that matter. However, it is within the utopian trapping of dialogue and cataloging, the dry back-and-forth exchange between two people talking about a pristine society or list after list after list of events or aspects of the society, that the utopian genre differs from their implementation of these literary features. However, the most important conventions to note within the genre is dialogue and analogy. The former establishes the world in which the readers consume throughout the narrative, whereas, the latter provides the comparison between the outside world that influenced the narrative and the fictional world that is reacting to it thus creating a moral truth, typically an axiom or allegory, that speaks of a better society.

The societies that inhabit the utopian genre are typically viewed under the lens as being futuristic, under the label of science fiction, or alternative history. In Ernest Callenbach’s novel  Ecotopia, the narrative is presented as a fictional history of a world where America was split after the divide of 1974 and a new nation, with the same name as the novel, arises as an answer to the perceived environmentally, morally, and ethically backward society of America. Ecotopia provides an origin story of the utopian society of the novel through Weston’s reports and diary entries which deal with issues such as the collective vs. the individual, a reversion back to primal,  tribal urges, and the dismantling of the nucleus family. Weston represents the narcissistic, self-indulgent attitude of the individualized self whereas Marissa, the love interest of the narrator, represents the collective of the Ecotopian society. Moreover, naturally as one would expect with the novel's name, the nation of Ecotopia is an environmental garden of Eden which practices self and preventative care both in regards to the body of their inhabitants and the Earth.

The garden is a staple of utopian literature as it is the symbol of freedom, redemption, and liberation for the utopian inhabitants. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s novel Herland is an example of a utopian society that features the garden. The nation of Herland is a literal garden in its designs, the city is draped with trees and wildlife, and is separated, much like the garden of Eden, from the outside world. This separation is a crucial feature of the garden convention because it is within this divide that the utopian ideal of harmony between man and nature is upheld, unpolluted by the sinful thoughts of outside individuals. Furthermore, the garden can be found in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, the text which coined the genre's term. However, this garden much like the one seen in Ecotopia is a garden crafted by humans for humans that illustrates their control, mastery, and respect for the natural world. Even in Ayn Rand’s Anthem, there is a garden-like setting at the end of the novella which serves as a reflection of the protagonist transformation from the lifeless collective to the introspective self.

What first attracted me to the genre was the social implications of the fictional creation of a utopian society. These social implications, to me, come in the form of a reaction from the society that feeds into the utopian narrative and functions both as a commentary and potential treatise to the problems facing society today. Admittedly, I thought there would be microscopic amount of critical examination offered through this take. However, I found myself viewing the utopian societies within the course through a hauntological lens and it has offered me a plethora of unique commentaries about our society that would otherwise not have arisen. The term hauntology was coined by the postmodern philosopher Jacques Derrida and claims that a spectre, or scar, already exists and has existed in an out of joint function from society. For example, the society of Ecotopia, when viewed under a hauntological lens, illustrates the fears and apprehensions of the seventies, the time in which the novel was published, through its details and championing of sexual liberation and drug use. These details serve as hauntological scars that, when bridged between the gaps of the fictional narrative and the historical events that took place and inspired the novel, highlight the restrictive force of the period of the government in terms of sexual freedom and drug use. This then begs the question for me: Can utopias be understood better when approached with a postmodern and deconstructional lens? The answer, obviously, yes. Any lens on any given literary text will yield new meaning, but I believe that if one were to view the narratives we have read and discussed in a hauntological lens they would understand that the texts themselves live in a liminal space between fictionality and reality as they deal with a reactionary function that propels the narrative (I.E., Herland’s commentary on women’s rights, Anthem’s fear of a socialist government, Ecotopia’s radical approach towards the environment and the body).

Albeit ambitious, I find that the only route that interests my critical eyes is the previously mentioned lens of hauntology. Throughout the semester we have not talked about it because it is not a readily known topic in even today’s academic debate on utopian literature and, I must admit, I have refrained from bringing it into the discussion because of the lack of complete understanding I have over the topic. However, I believe that a hauntological lens would benefit my understanding and the class's understanding of how fictional utopias live in a world that is influenced by the authors experience in their outside society that simultaneously rejects those influences in a weird, perverse way showing them as scars within the texts, gaps between meanings of truth that mark the novel. The hauntological understanding of utopia deconstructs the previous sentiment that began this essay, that utopias are fictional societies separate from the outside world, and declares these fictional utopias as societies that exist in a differential conversation with the outside world and the fictional world of the text.