pacavegano reviewed News from nowhere by William Morris (Routledge English texts)
None
5 stars
I have been reading Utopian literature for the past four decades. There are other works in this genre which I have enjoyed very much, but I must say that, among pure Utopian visions, this book is my favorite, and the nearest to my own idea of an ideal society. Being 135 years old, there are, of course, a few unexamined prejudices which must be forgiven, but surprisingly few, and mild.
An excellent novel which examines a society that has essentially the same basis as Morris’s imagined future, but set in a much more challenging environment, and with greater emphasis on exploring the challenges such a society might face, is Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Dispossessed. Morris calls his Utopia “Communism” while LeGuin calls hers “Anarchism”, but in their tenets there is very little between them.
An excellent novel which examines a society that has essentially the same basis as Morris’s imagined future, but set in a much more challenging environment, and with greater emphasis on exploring the challenges such a society might face, is Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Dispossessed. Morris calls his Utopia “Communism” while LeGuin calls hers “Anarchism”, but in their tenets there is very little between them.
