More, Thomas. Utopia, London : Penguin, 1965.First published in 1516, Thomas More's Utopia is a literary classic. Set in two parts, More's tale begins with the story of a sailor who he meets in Antwerp, Raphael Hythloday, who claims to have discovered a new society while accompanying Amerigo Vespucci to the Americas. Tactfully dodging the potential political ramifications of speaking out in medieval Britain, More's protagonist favorably compares this island republic to Britain, in conversation with an influential cleric-cum-politician. Hythloday (whose name means 'speaker of nonsense' in Greek) elaborates a series of reforms that Britain ought to adopt, along the lines of his fabled island paradise, from abandoning the use of mercenary soldiers and the death-penalty for theft, to the cessation of land enclosure.
Part 2 is a direct account of the social organisation found in Utopia - from its political system and laws and customs, to the people's cultural disdain for exorbitant wealth, gambling, war and social neglect of the elderly.
Utopia defies simple analysis - is it simply a satire of the faults of 16th century Britain, or More's attempt to depict a communistic society free from want and tyranny, and therefore worth striving for? Red herrings abound, including More's own interjections throughout the telling of the tale, and the fact that Utopia literally translates from the Greek as 'no-place'. However, it remains a must-read for anyone looking for an entree into the genre, and more broadly interested in the capacity of the human imagination to construct alternatives for existence.
