Beginnings....

Hi,
So I started this group as this is a line of literature which really fascinates me. I've been studying utopian literature for a while now and I'm about to write my thesis on ideas in utopian literature and how they transcend into real, living communities.
So, lets talk about books... important Utopian novels, obscure ones, famous ones, all of them!

Here's a book you might find interesting;

Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century, by Chris Spannos.

Here's a super link for the book:

http://www.zcommunications.org/zbooks/403

And here's another:

http://www.librarything.com/work/776238

Ecovillage Living: Restoring the Earth and Her People.

Wow, thanks a lot for that. They look like interesting works. Maybe my university library can get them in for me. Please let me know if you think of anymore. I've just ordered a book which is a directory of utopian-style communities across the world. I'm planning on trying to visit some.

=) You bet. But hey; I'm still interested to see the Utopian fiction you referenced above; I take it you did not in fact mean "dystopia," and have some titles to share yourself?

well, the ones I've been reading so far are;

Herland
Looking backwards
Woman on the edge of time
Ecotopia
S
The Iron Fist
The ones who walk away from Onedas
The Earthseed books
Walden
Black Empire
Time Machine
Brave New Word
Island
1984
Utopia
We
Plato's Republic

I know that some of these fall in to the 'dystopia' genre but I think that one cannot exist without the other. They are co-dependant in some ways. Walden is one open to debate as to whether it fits in to this category or not. I had quite a heated debate about this with a professor at university. The point being, 'can a utopian be just one person.' My argument is that utopian thought, and the utopian impulse is about reaching for an ideal rather than obtaining it. Therefor Walden can and should be considered as such.
There might be some more I have read, I can't quite remember now.

I have a few anthologies (with very interesting explanatory chapters) that explain utopian concepts in the 19th Century (early speculative fiction):

Future Perfect: American Science Fiction of the Nineteenth Century: An Anthology by H. Bruce Franklin.
Before Armageddon by Michael Moorcock.
Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne has pretty much heralded our technological advances.

Oh, and before I forget:
Utopian Fantasy by Richard Gerber.

the anthologies look great, I will try and get hold of them.
Were there any particular works from the anthologies that stand out for you?

Hawthorne's 'Rappaccini's daughter' is great - A doctor has made his daughter impervious to deadly poisons from plants in his garden. But all she touches dies, because, in a way, she has become a poisonous human herself.
Poe's short story, 'Mellonta Tauta', was a revelation, in that our dead civilization is interpreted rather awkwardly by archaeologists from the future. Stimson's 'Dr Materialismus' has a way to play with human emotions via a strange device (mood enhancer). These three stories are taken from 'Future Perfect'.

Chesney's 'The Battle of Dorking' (taken from 'Before Armageddon') is impressive in that the English idea of the Empire is chattered when the United Kingdom is invaded.

As for 'Utopian Fantasy', this is not an anthology, mostly thematic essays. Here are some examples of its content, you may find that it is relevant or not to what you are working on:
- 'The evolutionary setting': the rise of utopian humanism; man and superman; the problem of survival.
- 'Social conflicts': Utopian, Arcadian and Scientific; Science and religion; Mass and class; The servile state.
- 'Aesthetic concretion': Utopian fantasy; Ironical realism; Symbolical journeys; Towards the novel; Literary achievement.
The usual Appendixes, bibliographies and index are attached.

What's more, if you feel like you want to go earlier than that (philosophy), here is a list:
- Thomas More's Utopia - 1516
- Machiavelli's The Prince - 1516
- Hobbes' Leviathan - 1651 (similar to Plato's Republic)
- Voltaire's Micromégas - 1752

Re: message #7:

Walden by Thoreau is one thing; WaldenTwo by Skinner is, in a way, a critique of Utopian ideals.

I consider Thoreau's Walden to be a very good reference for meaningful living.

To all: Real Utopia, edited by Chris Spannos, is very interesting and has contributions from many thinkers/ writers.

Yes, I was refering to Thoreau's Walden, not WaldenTwo... I have been meaning to read that actually. Since I'm in the library I think I will get it out now!
I agree with your idea about Thoreau providing ideas about meaningful living. In fact, I believe that was really his desire; to create a sort of manual from which you could extract ideas relevant to your own experience.

Please report on what you see in places you visit. Attempted communities, actually lived in are most interesting - what is the place where what is possible for us takes form? What does it look like? How will it last?
Are residents happy/growing?
Best to you!

I've been wondering lately IF it is truly possible to live in a true Utopian Society. I guess the closest thing to a Utopia was the Garden of Eden before Adam & Eve got kicked out by God. The World today still has a lot of the same ills that has been troubling humanity for
thousands of years. Wars especially disputes over borders between Countries, drugs, poverty, people starving and homeless, etc.

Beatles1964

And of course I'm not talking about any of the Hippie style Communes from the 60's or early 70s or Communes like you used to find in the Soviet Union while it was being run by dictators like Lenin, Marx, Stalin & Krushchev but a real working Utopian type society somewhere out West in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming a desert trype community or maybe the English Country side for example Somewhere not surrounded by a big city or neighbours everywhere you turn around. There must be a place somewhere it's possible to try and start a Utopian Society.

Beatles1964

this community seems really interesting:

www.twinoaks.org

they took many of their initial ideas from B.F Skinner's Walden Two

I wrote about them quite a lot in my thesis.... it would be really interesting to visit come communities like this.

This is a subject that has fascinated me for the past few years, too (it started with fictional literature and now includes past and modern communities).
One thing I've found is that there aren't really "utopian" communities, but there are a LOT of "intentional" communities that, while they do not strive to be perfect, are still following in the same track as the utopian communities of the past.
Twin Oaks is one of the longest-lasting of these. Near where I live is one called Earthaven that I want to visit. http://www.earthaven.org/
There is a Fellowship for Intentional Community that has a large directory. http://directory.ic.org/iclist/geo.php