Literature and Utopian Politics in Seventeenth-Century England download book

Book: Literature and Utopian Politics in Seventeenth-Century England

Author: Robert Appelbaum

Pages: 270

Format: pdf

Language: English

ISBN10: 0521009154

There is nothing quite like this in the literature on utopian literature. It is focused on a short era, 1603-1670, and it dwells on many texts, persons, and events that have long since been forgotten. But it captures a movement of thought that still has relevance today, turning its material into a story of almost epic scope. (The author himself indicates that the story of the rise and decline of the utopian imagination in the seventeenth century is something of a tragedy.) Although this book is highly theoretical, very lit-crit and not entirely jargon-free, it is very readable. This text moves the reader along through matters arcane, familiar, and dramatic, explaining how the utopian impulse in seventeenth-century England anticipated both the great achievements and the great failings of modernity. The material on Francis Bacon alone is worth the price of admission, explaining how Bacon's thought is articulated through a host of competing subject positions. The material on socialism, communism, and millenarianism (and who would have thought that socialism was a popular idea in 1649?) is eye-opening and outstanding. If you are a student of utopianism or of seventeenth-century literature and politics you must read this book!