Utopia (1516)

Utopia, or in Latin: De optimo reip. statv, deque noua insula Vtopia, libellus uere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festiuus
Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), first published 1516
Reviewed by Chris Chen
Rating: 9 / 10
Synopsis: A truly golden little book, concerning the state of an ideal Commonwealth on the small island nation of Utopia, in the New World. Previously a peninsula, Utopia was separated when the conqueror Utopus ordered all the citizens of the peninsula (formerly called Abraxas before Utopus’ arrival) to occupy themselves by digging a 15-mile wide trench between the mainland and the peninsula’s main body. Utopia consists of two “books”, the first being a critique of European society and its endemic problems, the second a sort of solution to the problems of Europe with the laws and customs of the Utopians.
Review: Utopia presents a problem, and then a good, albeit impossible, solution to that problem. The problems and solutions discussed within are a predecessor of sorts to Marxist and other Communist thought, preceded only by Plato’s Republic.
Much like communism, More’s big problem is the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie. His main critique is towards the concept of private property, and how for equality and justice to exist amongst the people, private property must be abolished. His other main problems include absolute monarchism, imperialism, the concept of “chivalry”, the inability of Europe to address the issue of theft over the long-term and the character of kings. He also had a problem with the predominance of Latin and the lack of appreciation for Ancient Greek texts. More saw nothing of worth in Latin texts except for Seneca and Cicero.
The island Utopia solves such issues through warehousing and public ownership of goods and property and using no more land than necessary. Overpopulation of the island is addressed through the colonisation of the mainland, and under population with decolonisation. There is a republican system of government, community dining, simple laws understandable by the yeoman (every citizen is a cunning lawyer) and a requirement for all citizens to work. Utopia also presents several social innovations, such as free hospitals, legalised euthanasia, divorce and allowing priests to marry.
In fact, More’s solutions to European problems could be said to oppose European views and life completely, instead replacing them with the unusual and alien. The ideas are a clear influence on more modern thinking and philosophy (especially Communism), and Utopia also shows how More has been influenced by Greek philosophical thinking. Despite its plain impossibility, More’s philosophy does in fact resolve to the idyllic εὖτόπία (Greek, good place [eu-topia]), rather than the intended οὐτόπία (Greek, no place [ou-topia]).

“Thus I am wholly convinced that unless private property is entirely done away with, there can be no fair or just distribution of goods”

“When I run over in my mind the various commonwealths flourishing today, so help me God, I can see nothing in them, but a conspiracy of the rich, who are fattening up their own interests under the name and title of the commonwealth”

“If money disappeared, so would fear, anxiety, worry, toil, and sleepless nights. Even poverty, which seems to need money more than anything else for its relief, would vanish if money were entirely done away with.

Sir Thomas More’s Utopia is littered with seemingly revolutionary thoughts and ideas like those above; has been claimed as an early example of medievalism, modernism, socialism, communism; it has also been claimed by protestants, catholics, idealists and even Nazis, but why on earth would a reactionary churchman like Thomas More write and publish such a tract? It has to be a joke doesn't it?. If it is then the joke is on More because his invented Utopia has passed into common usage today as an ideal world.

More’s story is simplicity itself. He is introduced by his friend Peter Giles to Raphael Hythloday, who is visiting London after a voyages across uncharted seas searching for new lands. He has chanced upon the island of Utopia where he believes he has found the perfect society and is eager to return. Before Raphael can tell his story of the wonders of Utopia, he describes a dinner he had attended with Cardinal Morton and a distinguished lawyer. More uses a first person narrative for Raphael to describe the evils of the way England is currently ruled paying particular attention to the plight of the poor and the infirm. Rafael’s knowledge of foreign countries and the society’s he has witnessed on his travels leads him to propose alternative ways of dealing with the ills of England. The Utopians are introduced into the conversation and More and Peter Giles are eager to learn more details of how their society is organised and so they arrange to have dinner with Raphael and his descriptions of Utopia take up the whole of Book Two.

Utopia’s geography (although not where it can be found), its cities, its social organisation, its work habits, its relations with other countries, moral philosophy, art of warfare and their religion are all lovingly described by Raphael. There are no interruptions from More or his friend as a picture of Utopia emerges. Of course there are contradictions in the story and it soon emerges that a Utopian society is based on discipline at the expense of liberty. The pursuit of pleasure for all and the good of the commonwealth cannot be achieved without restrictions on freedom that would be unacceptable to people in Thomas Mores’s circle. A point he makes on the final page of his book when he allows himself to think about what he has heard:

“……but my chief concern was to the basis of the whole system, that is, their communal living, and their moneyless economy. This one thing alone takes away all the nobility, magnificence, splendour, and majesty which (in the popular view) are considered the true ornaments of any nation”

Utopia was published in 1516 just about the same time as copies of Machiavelli’s “The Prince” were appearing and on the face of it the books are worlds apart. Machiavelli’s advice to his Prince is based on pragmatism and commercialism with the basic premise that a ruler always needs to be tougher and/or fairer than his opponents to maintain his position and/or increase his power.. More’s Utopia is based on a shared communalism where everybody benefits from just laws with the pursuit of pleasure for all being the chief aim. However running underneath both books is an undercurrent of pessimism; a pessimism that bites deep into the human psyche. I think that Machiavelli and More took a similar view of mankind, they saw around them people whose natural instincts were totally selfish, anarchic and sinful, whose wilful pursuit of riches and power had to be kept in check.

Thomas More as far as we can judge was an ambiguous character; "a man for all seasons", in his early life particularly he was much respected in humanist circles, a friend of Erasmus and known for his wit and sagacity, however when he became active in public life; C R Elton says that “he remained determined to apply coercion and judgement to dangerous sinners, rather than compassion and comprehension.” (he was instrumental in enforcing the ultimate penalty of burning for heretics). There is evidence that he regretted the publication of Utopia and certainly when his circle of friends commented on it they thought it was a delightful little joke. The way More told his story especially by including real people in book one, convinced some people at the time of the validity of Utopia, and while today we are sure that the island of Utopia does not exist, there are still plenty of people who can read into More’s book serious political philosophy.

I think it is a satire and no doubt an indictment of early 16th century society, but Raphael Hythloday’s Utopia is an excuse for the witty More to poke as much fun as possible at the society in which he lived. It is a book that is still open to many different interpretations and will produce plenty of ammunition for debate on the ills of current society and how we would like to see a perfect community organised. It is a fun read and at only 85 pages can easily be read in one sitting.

I read the Norton Critical Edition, which has some excellent critical essays following a clear and absorbing translation of the text by Robert M Adams. Some contextual information is also included along with extracts from letters that were written by More and his friends, which add immensely to the enjoyment of More’s little book. There are also extracts from other authors attempts at defining a Utopia, which may be of interest. This is a classic that I thoroughly enjoyed and so I rate it at 5 stars. ( )

This is another one of those classic books that everyone should read. It was written in 16th century England so the language can make reading this a bit difficult/tedious. But it is worth it.

This is a small book but it is broken down into two sections. The first book is letters between Sir Thomas More and several people he met. The reader is introduced to Raphael, whose the main character. The second book is about Utopia. The reader learns what life is like there, how things are run. For instance, people are re-distributed around the households in the Utopia to keep numbers even. People wear the same type of clothing, no one is unemployed. Everything is kept as equal as possible. What I found interesting abotu Utopia was that it was a welfare state, not unlike the U.S., but it was taken to the extreme.

I liked this book and I would recommend it to everyone. Again, it's a classic and everyone should read this at least once in their life time. ( )

I have always wanted to read Thomas More's classic Utopia, and I'm pleased to finally have read it this year. Like most people, I knew Utopia to represent the ideal or perfect society but didn't know much more about the structure of Thomas More's classic.

It's hard to believe Thomas More was born over 500 years before me, and yet his work has endured and is still relevant to us today. Published first in Latin in 1516, I was surprised to learn that Utopia wasn't published in English until 1551, which was sixteen years after Thomas More's unjust execution for treason.

Utupia is a short novel, containing only 135 pages - and is broken down into two sections, Book One and Book Two.

Book One commences with a letter from Thomas More to his friend Peter Gilles, explaining why it has taken so long to transcribe 'this little book about the Utopian Republic'. This letter is followed by another and then a discussion between Thomas More, Peter Gilles and a traveller by the name of Raphael Nonsenso. Raphael is discussing his time spent living in Utopia with Gilles and More engaging in the conversation. Book One ends with Thomas More asking for:
"a detailed account of it from every point of view, geographical, sociological, political, legal - in fact, tell us everything you'd think we'd like to know, which means everything we don't know already."

Book Two is the detailed account of Utopia, written by Thomas More from memory of Raphael's account.

Fact or Fiction?
The correspondence at the beginning of Utopia, certainly set a particular tone that what was to follow had an element of truth, or plausibility about it. This technique has been used countless times since, Bram Stoker's Dracula just one example.

However, there were various clues early on that More's novel was instead a work of fiction. Raphael's surname of 'Nonsenso', was a clue, as was the curiosity surrounding the location of the island of Utopia, and the story that just as Raphael was discussing it's location a colleague coughed loudly, and More missed hearing the details.

Thomas More used the fictional novel as a means to discuss controversial topics and ideas at the time, in particular in relation to nobility and the class system in England.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Utopia, and I believe it is an accessible classic for almost all readers. I think it is just as relevant and as important a piece of literature today as it was 500 years ago. ( )

This is the kind of book that wouldn't be done justice with just one read-through. One should carefully read, reread, analyze, take a break from, and read again. Every time I read it, I pick up on something new or come to a different conclusion about what More might have meant. It's truly fascinating, especially for the fact that the reaction upon reading may in fact reveal more about the reader than it does about More or the work itself. I've never met anyone who takes exactly the same thing away from it as someone else, and have been constantly amazed at the various insights people have that never occurred to me. To hear one's impressions of the book is to have a small window into their mind. For the sheer amount of thought and introspection Utopia provokes, I feel it is a must-read.

Much is said about the actual description of Utopia, but I would encourage readers to pay just as much attention to the first portion of the book, where Raphael is introduced and speaks with his companions (the character versions of More and Giles). One might also want to keep in mind that Utopia (as opposed to Eutopia- "good place"), despite modern usage, means "no place" rather than some sort of ideal. Just as Raphael Hythlodaeus/Hythloday is a "speaker of nonsense", Utopia/"no place" is not so simple as to be the description of a perfect society. Or is it? That ambiguity is the beauty of More's work. ( )