Editing Utopian and dystopian fiction (section)

==== Examples ====
Thomas More's 1516 book ''Utopia'', written in [[Latin]], sets out a vision of an ideal [[society]]. As the title suggests, the work presents an ambiguous and ironic projection of the ideal state.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Thomas More : why patron of statesmen? |date=10 September 2015 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-1-4985-2227-4 |editor=Curtright, Travis |location=Lanham |page=174 |oclc=920466356 |quote=Mantel's Cromwell, despite his keen appreciation of literature and love of Petrarch, completely misses the ironic and ambiguous structure of ''Utopia''.}}</ref> The whimsical nature of the text can be confirmed by the narrator of ''Utopia'''s second book, Raphael Hythloday. The Greek root of the name "Hythloday" suggests an 'expert in nonsense.'<ref>{{Cite book |last=Claeys |first=Gregory |title=The Cambridge companion to utopian literature |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge university press |isbn=978-0-521-88665-9 |series=Cambridge companions to literature |location=Cambridge}}</ref> Thomas More's idea of a utopia stems from the current economic and societal issues in [[Tudor period|Tudor England]]. More directly confronts the issues of rising population, oppressive landlords, and civilians turning to crime through Hythloday's perspective in Book I of his novel. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Elton |first=Geoffry Rudolph |title=Reform and Reformation: England 1509-1558 |date=1977 |publisher=Edward Arnold |location=London |isbn=978-0713159530 |pages=2–5 |language=English}}</ref>

An earlier example of a Utopian work from [[classical antiquity]] is [[Plato]]'s ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'', in which he outlines what he sees as the ideal society and its [[political system]]. Later, [[Tommaso Campanella]] was influenced by Plato's work and wrote ''[[The City of the Sun]]'' (1623), which describes a modern utopian society built on equality.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Campanella|first=Tommaso|title=The City of the Sun|publisher=The Floating Press|year=2009 |orig-date=1623|isbn=978-1-775410-51-5|pages=1–39|language=en}}</ref> Other examples include [[Samuel Johnson]]'s ''[[The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia]]'' (1759) and [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]]'s ''[[Erewhon]]'' (1872), which uses an [[anagram]] of "nowhere" as its title.<ref name="Sargent" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title= The utopia reader |date=1999|publisher=New York University Press |editor=Claeys, Gregory |editor2=Sargent, Lyman Tower |isbn=0-585-42482-9|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/utopiareader00clae/page/n243 229]|oclc=70728991}}</ref> This, like much of utopian literature, can be seen as [[satire]]; Butler inverts illness and crime, with punishment for the former and treatment for the latter.<ref name=":0" />

One example of the utopian genre's meaning and purpose is described in [[Fredric Jameson]]'s ''Archeologies of the Future'' (2005)'','' which addresses many utopian varieties defined by their program or impulse. He describes the fundamental dynamic of utopias lying in "identity and difference." Jameson states that the core of utopian thought and politics lies in an imagined system that is thoroughly different from an original, real one. <ref>{{Cite book|last=Jameson|first=Fredric|title=Archaeologies of the Future|publisher=Verso|year=2005|isbn=1-84467-033-3|location=New York|pages=1–9|language=en}}</ref>

Another early work of utopian but satirical fiction would be  the English philosopher and writer Margaret Cavendish’s ''The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World'' (1666). This is an early example of what would later be called science fiction writing. There is debate about to what degree Cavendish's work can be called feminist. For example, Rachel Trubowitz<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Trubowitz |first=Rachel |date=1992 |title=The Reenchantment of Utopia and the Female Monarchical Self: Margaret Cavendish's Blazing World |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/464299 |journal=Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=229–245 |doi=10.2307/464299 |issn=0732-7730 |jstor=464299}}</ref> describes ''A Blazing World'' as a feminist utopia due to how much it challenges traditional gender roles; however, Sujata Iyengar says that Cavendish’s work reinforces ideas of racial and feminine inferiority. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iyengar |first=Sujata |date=2002 |title=Royalist, Romancist, Racialist: Rank, Gender, and Race in the Science and Fiction of Margaret Cavendish |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30032037 |journal=ELH |volume=69 |issue=3 |pages=649–672 |doi=10.1353/elh.2002.0027 |issn=0013-8304 |jstor=30032037}}</ref> Vanessa Rapatz focuses more on Cavendish's subsequent impact and argues that her writings provide a context for understanding contemporary feminist authors such as Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rapatz |first=Vanessa L |date=May 2024 |title="A World of her own Invention": Teaching Margaret Cavendish's &lt;i&gt;Blazing World&lt;/i&gt; in the Early British Literature Survey and Beyond |journal=ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830 |volume=14 |issue=1 |doi=10.5038/2157-7129.14.1.1353 |issn=2157-7129|doi-access=free }}</ref> Because Cavendish often broke the boundaries of conventional female writing and behavior, many people have been dismissive of her utopian vision. Samuel Pepys described Cavendish as being a “mad, conceited” and “ridiculous woman”.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wills |first=Matthew |date=2019-03-10 |title="Mad Meg," the Poet-Duchess of 17th Century England |url=https://daily.jstor.org/mad-meg-the-poet-duchess-of-17th-century-england/ |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=JSTOR Daily |language=en-US}}</ref> Virginia Woolf wrote that her work lacked discipline and “her ideas [were] poured out higgledy-piggledy in torrents of prose, poetry, and philosophy.”