Utopia
by Thomas More
One of the most influential books in the Western philosophical and literary tradition, Sir Thomas More's Utopia, appeared in 1516. The formidable Henry VIII had recently ascended the throne in England, and conflicting ideas about religion fueled the Reformation across Europe. An overwhelming satire, Utopia was extremely successful and brought the Peloponnese to the forefront of the growing humanist movement. The story of Utopia is told by a mysterious sailor named Rafael Haitloday, who travels to the New World with the Italian explorer Vespucci and stays in a castle built at the farthest point reached. From there, he discovers a strange island kingdom called Utopia, a pagan and communist city-state where language, social traditions, clothing, architecture, and education are the same in fifty-four cities of the country. The Utopians abolished wealth, nobility, currency. Labor and goods are distributed equally, and property is common. And there are no monasteries, no alechaus, no academies that would convince a person to leave society. Given Mor's satirical tendencies and eventual execution, is Utopia merely an attack on the evil of Europe? In the end, Utopia follows a path between the desire to create perfection and the pragmatic understanding that perfection is impossible given the fallacy of humanity.
