In "Utopia" More paints a vision of the customs and practices of a distant island but ... more
Utopia means 'no place' and his narrator's name Hythlodaeus translates as 'dispenser of nonsense'. This fantastical tale masks what is a serious and subversive an...
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Advantages: Fascinating glimpse of an alternative world view Disadvantages: Somewhat stuck in time
translations is by H.V.S. Ogden, in 1949, still reprinted in various editions to this day. Originally published in Latin in 1516, the first English version appeared in 1551, some 16 years after More's death.
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Utopia
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ThomasMore writes this as if he were traveling, and meets his friend Peter Giles, who introduces him to Raphael Hythloday, a scholar/traveler with tales to tell.
Hythloday made friends with a prince who outfitted him for a journey. He traveled through deserts and fertile lands. He proceeds to give an account to Giles and More. In an ironic twist, given More's own attachment to Henry VIII, Hythloday states that he doesn't give his information in advice of kings or princes, for to be beholden to them is not a wise thing. He quotes Plato, in saying that unless kings were themselves philosophers, they ...
Advantages: Written by a great man Disadvantages: No discussion of ideas in the text
For those that want to know about the dispute about the meaning of the word "Utopia" please go to the end and start there otherwise continue ....
Plato's "Republic" is a seminal work and being philosophy can be read in any time in history it seems as it deals in ideas and concepts of governance.
"Utopia" by Sir Thomas Moore is not like Plato's "Republic" - I was surprised by this as "Utopia" always seemed that grandiose work by someone who is without doubt a great man (an actual saint in fact). However "Utopia" lacks a purpose because.....
The 1500s were a troubled time and people had to tread exceptionally carefully when dealing in ideas and so this was the reason for the use of a non-existent explorer. Under the pretence of a non-existent explorer recounting his tales of a far away country no one could really dispute that it ...
Advantages: Influential, interesting from a range of perspectives Disadvantages: Not an easy read, what is it?
I think most people are familiar with the term utopia, and its use to describe "any real or imaginary state or place believed to be ideal, perfect, excellent" (Chambers dictionary). Probably far fewer are familiar with Sir ThomasMore's tract of 1516, which first coined the term - which is a shame, because the society described therein is by no means obviously 'utopian' in the modern sense - our usage has come a long way from the original sense.
The very etymology of the word 'utopia' is fraught with ambiguity. It's derived from the Greek 'topos' [place], but the prefix 'u' could be a contraction of either 'eu-' [good] or 'ou-' [no] - thus a utopia is either 'good place' or 'no place' (maybe both). The contemporary usage seems to focus on the former, but it's not obvious that More's Utopia was wholly ideal. Further a number of other ...
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Product details
EAN
9780140449105
Type
Fiction
Genre
Classics
Publisher
Penguin Books Ltd
Title
Utopia
Author
Saint More Thomas
ISBN
0140449108
Manufacturer's product description
Here More paints a vision of the customs and practices of a distant island but Utopia means no place" and his narrator's name Hythlodaeus translates as "dispenser of nonsense". This fantastical tale masks what is a serious and subversive analysis of the failings of More's society. Advocating instead a world in which there is religious tolerance provision for the aged and state ownership of land "Utopia" has been variously claimed as a Catholic tract or an argument for communism and it still invites each generation to make its own interpretation."
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