Utopia by Sir Thomas More

I read the edition contained in the Norton Critical Edition, translated by Robert M. Adams.

Utopia, written in Latin, is a vision of an ideal society founded in the new world, governed by reason, based on the premise that all property should be owned by the common weal, rather than hoarded individually. According to the narrator of this vision, Raphael Hythloday, this results in a more efficient and harmonious form of government. I think of it as the contrary of Mandeville's Fable of the Bees, where quite the opposite occurs - by living virtuously, they dwindle in number and wealth, because they only desire what they need, rather than desiring and getting excess wealth.

The book is divided into a prefacatory letter included in the 1515 edition, a first part that develops the frame story further and turns into a debate about the merits and demerits of rule at home, a second part where Raphael describes the Utopian approach, and an end letter (in the second 1517 edition) that discharges the question about whether it is fable or fact.

Both letters are to Peter Giles, an associate of More through Erasmus. The first letter presents the manuscript to Giles, variously claiming that it is a record, separating some of its claims from his own to preserve correctness ("I'd rather be truthful than correct"), implying authority through its other witnesses, and in short urging that all these notes be compared with Hythloday, indicating More's meticulous intentions. It's a quite pleasing frame, with rhetorical touches that would have made an eighteenth-century fabricator (like Walpole or Swift) proud.

Book 1 puts the frame story forward. In the midst of negotiation, More gets permission to go to Antwerp from Bruges to meet Peter Giles. While there, they meet Raphael, who despite appearances as a sailor claims to be a philosopher. He soon details his miraculous circumnavigation of the globe. But when Peter urges that these experiences, and his reasoning faculty, could be used to counsel kings, Raphael refuses. He claims that to do so would be futile, due to the deceptions of courtiers, the emphasis on warmongering instead of peace, the crossover between soldiers and thieves, and other reasons. He also carries into other criticisms, like that against bad schooling (zeal for punishment instead of learning), enclosure, games of chance, and so on (529). The Polylerites stand as a good but flawed counterexample to Europe's corruption. The courtiers reject the account, until the Cardinal approves - then they cling to it. Raphael rejects public service by this example as well. More suggests that he compromise and advise small steps rather than large ones, but Raphael says this is tantamount to supporting disorder. Then he gradually shifts to claiming that the root of disorder is private property and money. The Utopians serve as an example, partly descended from some early European contact, but separate from their present strife.

Book 2 describes Utopia in broad categories. Generally, the island is a crescent island just off the coast, reduced to an island by the work of a king. All people work six hours a day, and have the rest of the time for leisure. Intellectual engagement is highly honored. Only scholars and leaders are exempted from service, and they are only a few. Slavery is quite interesting, since it is a crime mainly for miscreants and immigrants, but there is the choice of mollification, and it is not generational. Population is controlled by colonies and redistribution. Farming is done by two year drafts. The island is well-defended. They trade, mainly for iron, but are sure only to trade their excesses. Gold, silver, and similar adornments are highly scorned - they use them to chain their slaves. All of these little details, and the ways that they negotiate with nearby nations, indicates a highly advanced society in the midst of relative savages. Utopia has some likeness to Europe (not least the Greek names, or the size nearly like England's), but in one passage discussing European nations as those who don't break treaties, it is clear that the New Worlders are just about the same as Europe. Such comparison is only fraught because of Raphael's tendency to make them seem more similar to us to make them comprehensible, legible. It scarcely serves as a surprise that Utopia's general deism provides welcome to Christianity, though it readily takes it into a polyreligious society that features mutual tolerance. Also, depictions of women are interesting, because they are given relatively equal standing for the time, able to go to war with the husband, trained in military combat, required to work equally. It is however still a patriarchal society - the wife second to the husband, the female priest rare, many women standing as wives. Also, its prohibitions against sexual proclivities is severe, with no sex before marriage and slavery for those who commit adultery. It seems like Raphael must make these notions clear, lest people think that the colony is too loose.

Finally, the end letter addresses a criticism that the fiction is indistinguishable to fact. His answer is partly that he wouldn't be so blunt as to use Greek euphemisms for names. He also appeals to Raphael, saying that they should go and view him, since he is alive, as well as the other witnesses. His ardent insistence on its truth makes me want to believe him. Perhaps the key is that it is better to be truthful than correct. In Thomas's account lies the key to any good fiction - its truth lies not in fact, but in what it represents. A little trite for this postmodern time, but still - I insist - correct.