LITR 5737: Literary & Historical Utopias
Historical Presentation 2007

Fran Baines

Utopian movements of the Renaissance

Two authors from the Age of Reason and Enlightenment, in keeping with the spirit of their times, envisioned their own philosophical and intellectual utopias…

  1. Tommaso Campanella’s City of the Sun (1623):  It describes a theocratic society where goods, women, and children are held in common.
     
  1. Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis (1627): In Bensalem, marriage and family are the basis of society and family ties are celebrated in state-sponsored holidays.

 

Tommaso Campanella’s

  • Commerce

“Commerce is of little use to them, but they know the value of money, and they count for the use of their ambassadors and explorers, so that with it they may have the means of living...Agriculture is much followed among them; there is not a span of earth without cultivation” (Campanella).

  • Women

“For with them deformity is unknown.  When the women are exercised they get a clear complexion, and become strong of limb, tall and agile, and with them beauty consists in tallness and strength.  Therefore, if any woman dyes her face, or uses high-heeled boots so that she may appear tall, or garments with trains to cover her wooden shoes, she is condemned to capital punishment.”  Domestic affairs and partnerships are of little account due to the fact that everyone receives the necessities. 

  • Children

“Love is foremost in attending to the charge of the race.  He sees that men and women are so joined together, that they bring for the best offspring.  Indeed, they laugh at us who exhibit a studious care for our breed of horses and dogs, but neglect the breeding of human beings…For they say that children are bred for the preservation of the species and not for individual pleasure.” Therefore, the breeding of children has reference to the commonwealth, and not to individuals.

 

Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/bacon/atlantis.html

  • Pools of Adam and Eve

“Pools represent the Bensalemite’s knowledge and love of the physical and sexual…”

  • The Feast of the Family:  Tirsan’s Blessing
  • Government:  What would happen if the government decided to no longer recognize marriage?

 

Historical objectives

Objective 3f.  What social structures, units, or identities does utopia expose or frustrate? What changes result in child-rearing, feeding, marriage, aging, sexuality, etc.?