October 27, 2021
The Necessity of Utopias
Michael Robertson
Professor of English, The College of New Jersey
Rob Fraser, Introducer, and Michael Robertson
Minutes of the Eighth Meeting of the 80th Year
President Stephen Schreiber called the meeting to order at 10:15 AM. Attendance was recorded at 118 persons. Joan Fleming read the minutes of the prior meeting. President Schreiber introduced the meeting's guests: Susan Danoff, guest of Richard Trenner, and Matt Salas, guest of Tony Glockler. He then announced the following:
Rob Fraser then introduced today's speaker, Professor Michael Robertson, whose most recent book is The Last Utopians. Until his retirement this past summer, Michael Robertson was Professor of English at The College of New Jersey. He received his B.A. from Stanford, M.A. from Columbia, and Ph.D. from Princeton. He focuses his research and writing on 19th-century British and American literature. He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships and the author of three award-winning books: The Last Utopians (Princeton University Press, 2018), Worshipping Walt: The Whitman Disciples (Princeton University Press, 2008), and Stephen Crane, Journalism, and the Making of Modern American Literature (Columbia University Press, 1997). He was recently elected president of the William Morris Society in the United States. The Society, which is allied with Morris societies in the United Kingdom and Canada, promotes the legacy of the celebrated Victorian artist, writer, and socialist. Professor Robertson is about to move to London University, where he will be working on a critical biography of Morris.
Professor Robertson began by observing that Oscar Wilde's comment—"a map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing”—sums up his talk.
Utopian literature flourished in the late 1800s but died out around 1915, when people began to misunderstand and misinterpret utopias and thought that they were naive and impractical. Yet Professor Robertson has concluded that utopias are essential both for cultural vitality and political progress.
Historically, the first writing about utopias dates to 1516, when Sir Thomas More published his book Utopia. The name is a play on words derived from the Latin for “no place” and the Greek for the “Good Place.” Thomas More saw utopias as an intelligent tool for critiquing the present social system and creating a vision of a better world.
Another important and influential piece of utopian literature appeared in 1888, when Edward Bellamy published Looking Backward. This book addresses the conflict between industrial capitalism and labor actions—then threatening to tear the United States apart. (Some of the “combatants” even wore uniforms which looked like those worn by Union soldiers in the Civil War.)
Later utopian writings, which often focused on conflict between the rich and the poor, were produced by Robert Owen, Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, and Walt Whitman—all democratic socialists. These writers espoused conversion, not revolution, as a means to a better life: “conversion” related to cultural beliefs regarding such matters as women's economic dependence, lifelong heterogeneous marriage, religious beliefs and practices, and environmental conditions.
William Morris's News from Nowhere (1890); Edward Carpenter's work about gay men and women, The Intermediate Sex: A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and Women (1908); and Charlotte Gilman Perkins’s Herland (1915) all suggest that utopian ends can and should be achieved. As noted earlier, the killing fields of World War I largely brought an end to public belief in the value and efficacy of utopias.
Later, however, such works as Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (1932), 1984, by George Orwell (1949), and The Greening of America, by Charles Reich (1970), revived interest in utopias. Brave New World and 1984 are, of course, dystopian in perspective. In addition, Ernst Bloch’s The Principle of Hope (1954, 1955, and 1959) and The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974), are particularly interesting 20th century works related to utopian thinking.
Examples of “real-life” and “intentional” utopias existing in the United States today include the following:
Typically, these “utopias” focus on concern for the earth, simple living, and a liberal spirit. And they are all potentially useful in keeping us from reacting solely in anger to—or merely resigning ourselves to—harsh conditions in today's world. Visions of utopia can give us hope and inspire us to create a better future.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathryn Trenner
- All members have paid their dues, with the exception of only three or four persons. Minute-takers are being sought for future meetings. Those interested in volunteering should contact Rob Fraser.
- Membership applications have been going to spam for some people; thus, if anyone needs the application form, please ask again as the fall elections will take place soon.
- Joan Girgus and the Venues Committee are deciding when and how future meetings will take place. The proposed Speakers’ List for next year has been sent to all members.
- Next week's speaker will be Allen Guelzo, Senior Research Scholar, Council of the Humanities, James Madison Society Scholar, Princeton University, who will speak on his book The Joy of History.
- Kathryn Trenner will take the minutes for today's meeting.
Rob Fraser then introduced today's speaker, Professor Michael Robertson, whose most recent book is The Last Utopians. Until his retirement this past summer, Michael Robertson was Professor of English at The College of New Jersey. He received his B.A. from Stanford, M.A. from Columbia, and Ph.D. from Princeton. He focuses his research and writing on 19th-century British and American literature. He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships and the author of three award-winning books: The Last Utopians (Princeton University Press, 2018), Worshipping Walt: The Whitman Disciples (Princeton University Press, 2008), and Stephen Crane, Journalism, and the Making of Modern American Literature (Columbia University Press, 1997). He was recently elected president of the William Morris Society in the United States. The Society, which is allied with Morris societies in the United Kingdom and Canada, promotes the legacy of the celebrated Victorian artist, writer, and socialist. Professor Robertson is about to move to London University, where he will be working on a critical biography of Morris.
Professor Robertson began by observing that Oscar Wilde's comment—"a map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing”—sums up his talk.
Utopian literature flourished in the late 1800s but died out around 1915, when people began to misunderstand and misinterpret utopias and thought that they were naive and impractical. Yet Professor Robertson has concluded that utopias are essential both for cultural vitality and political progress.
Historically, the first writing about utopias dates to 1516, when Sir Thomas More published his book Utopia. The name is a play on words derived from the Latin for “no place” and the Greek for the “Good Place.” Thomas More saw utopias as an intelligent tool for critiquing the present social system and creating a vision of a better world.
Another important and influential piece of utopian literature appeared in 1888, when Edward Bellamy published Looking Backward. This book addresses the conflict between industrial capitalism and labor actions—then threatening to tear the United States apart. (Some of the “combatants” even wore uniforms which looked like those worn by Union soldiers in the Civil War.)
Later utopian writings, which often focused on conflict between the rich and the poor, were produced by Robert Owen, Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, and Walt Whitman—all democratic socialists. These writers espoused conversion, not revolution, as a means to a better life: “conversion” related to cultural beliefs regarding such matters as women's economic dependence, lifelong heterogeneous marriage, religious beliefs and practices, and environmental conditions.
William Morris's News from Nowhere (1890); Edward Carpenter's work about gay men and women, The Intermediate Sex: A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and Women (1908); and Charlotte Gilman Perkins’s Herland (1915) all suggest that utopian ends can and should be achieved. As noted earlier, the killing fields of World War I largely brought an end to public belief in the value and efficacy of utopias.
Later, however, such works as Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (1932), 1984, by George Orwell (1949), and The Greening of America, by Charles Reich (1970), revived interest in utopias. Brave New World and 1984 are, of course, dystopian in perspective. In addition, Ernst Bloch’s The Principle of Hope (1954, 1955, and 1959) and The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974), are particularly interesting 20th century works related to utopian thinking.
Examples of “real-life” and “intentional” utopias existing in the United States today include the following:
- “Techno Utopias” (ideal societies made possible by advances in science and technology);
- “Consumer Culture Utopias” (for example, Disneyland and Disney World);
- “Community Housing Utopias” (of which there are today some 1,700);
- “Educational Utopias” (for example, Waldorf Schools);
- “Continuing Care Retirement Communities” (retirement communities in which a continuum of “aging care needs”—from independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing care—can all be met);
- “Food Utopias” (designed to counter factory farming and animal cruelty).
Typically, these “utopias” focus on concern for the earth, simple living, and a liberal spirit. And they are all potentially useful in keeping us from reacting solely in anger to—or merely resigning ourselves to—harsh conditions in today's world. Visions of utopia can give us hope and inspire us to create a better future.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathryn Trenner