Beschreibung
analyses the genre pattern of utopian fiction as it emerged in the Renaissance, focusing on utopias as self-referential texts that literally have to constitute themselves as imaginary or intentional entities before they can work as vehicles for socio-political ideas.
Autorenportrait
Artur Blaim is Professor of English Literature at Maria Curie-Sk?odowska University, Lublin and the University of Gdansk. His books include
(1984),
(1990) and
(1997), as well as
(2011) and
(co-edited with Ludmi?a Gruszewska-Blaim, 2012).
Rezension
«Artur Blaim’s ‘Gazing in Useless Wonder’ is absolutely essential reading for anyone trying to understand this period and its utopian texts. This book is important because it includes discussion of many neglected texts such as ‘Siuqila’ (1580), ‘The Capacity and Extent of Human Understanding ’ (1745), ‘The Travels of Hildebrand Bowman’ (1778), ‘The Admirable Travels of Messieurs Thomas Jenkins and David Lowellin Through the Unknown Tracts of Africa’ (1783), and ‘A True and Faithful Account of Veritas ’ (1790) as well as the better known texts. Blaim’s treatment of these early texts is the most systematic analysis available of the ways in which utopian narratives are structured and carry their message.» (Lyman Tower Sargent, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, author of ‘Utopianism: A Very Short Introduction ’(2010))
«This is the most detailed, original and sophisticated study of early modern and eighteenth-century British literary utopias to be published in many years, and offers an excellent introduction to a large number of texts and traditions, as well as the methodological and theoretical debates surrounding their interpretation.» (Gregory Claeys, Professor of History at Royal Holloway, University of London, editor of ‘The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature ’(2010))
Inhalt
Contents: Thomas More’s
and the Emergence of Utopian Fictions – The Margins of Utopia – Utopian Spaces and Places – Utopian Institutions, Utopian People – Dystopian/Negative Worlds: The Paradigm Reversed.
