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/lit/ - Literature

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717130 No.717130 [Reply] [Original]

I'm kind of tired of seeing so many threads about dystopian visions (not that there's necessarily anything wrong with them).

Let's talk about utopian literature. Is there such a thing? What makes utopian literature, well, utopian?

The books that come to mind for me are Callenbach's Ecotopia, Huxley's Island, and Robert Silverberg's The World Inside (although this last book is deeply ambiguous, it could also be compared to Ballard's Super-Cannes, I suppose).

>> No.717135

Utopia by Thomas Moore

>> No.717136

I've been under the impression that distopian and utopian were for all intensive purposes the same thing in fiction.

>> No.717142
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717142

>> No.717148

>>717142
>more

>> No.717159

>>717136
>dystopian and utopian the same thing
>all intensive purposes
Best troll I've seen in a while.

>> No.717164

EUtopia. With an E.

>> No.717189

>>717159
with both typically leading to the same questions, would you say the primary differences are approach. dystopian leads with the horrors, while utopian leaves em for the reveal

>> No.717204

'Looking Backward' by Edward Bellamy is pretty good.

There's two of Trotsky's: 'Literature and Revolution' and 'Problems of Everyday Life' have utopian elements, regarding the liberating potential of art and science respectively.

>> No.717253

>>717204

Trotsky. I've been meaning to read a few things by him lately.

>> No.718257

>>717253

Yeah, he was an interesting writer. Though it's worth understanding the continuous party machinations that were going on, which is where something like Deutscher's "Prophet trilogy" comes in (and not Robert Service's recent bio btw).

Bumpan for a read in the morn.

>> No.718263

Robert Graves, Watch the North Wind Rise

>> No.718278
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718278

The Culture series.

>> No.718281

Huxley's Island not a dystopy????LOL!

>> No.718294

Walden Two is the only "Utopian" book that was truly written to be such, most of the rest are just satire/social commentary on the time rather than a serious look at what might make a perfect society. Also Island fell apart at the end, it can't really be called Utopian.

>> No.718296

>>718278

God damnit, is this what Culture covers used to look like? I wish they still sold those.

>> No.718342

>>718294
I think you are forgetting about Utopia by THomas Moore