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1 Dorling, D. (2016) Review of Utopia by Thomas More, introduced by China Miéville and concluded by Ursula Le Guin, London: Verso, Red Pepper, December. Utopia by Thomas More Introduced by China Miéville and concluded by Ursula Le Guin, London: Verso In 1968 Ursula Le Guin wrote the Wizard of Earthsea for me. I knew it, as I am sure thousands of other children also knew. I felt my imagination grow and my horizons expand. I saw myself in her story. Utopia is about imagination, how hard it is to imagine, but what imagination can achieve. So place Thomas More’s story between the words of two living fiction writers and you imagine something new. “Utopianism isn’t hope, still less optimism: it is need, and it is desire” declares China Miéville in the opening essay of Verso’s quincentenary edition of Utopia. Then, with little hope, and even less optimism he begins a second essay title ‘the limits to Utopia’ with the recent report (part-funded by NASA, no less) that warned of the imminent collapse of global civilization resulting from the climate change that is coming; an immanent collapse that our unleashing of corporate monsters will make ‘difficult to avoid’.

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    Dorling, D. (2016) Review of Utopia by Thomas More, introduced by China Miéville and concluded by Ursula Le Guin, London: Verso, Red Pepper, December.

    Utopia by Thomas More Introduced byChina Miéville and concluded byUrsula Le Guin, London: Verso

    In1968UrsulaLeGuinwrotetheWizardofEarthseaforme.Iknewit,asIamsure

    thousandsofotherchildrenalsoknew.Ifeltmyimaginationgrowandmyhorizons

    expand.Isawmyselfinherstory.Utopiaisaboutimagination,howharditisto

    imagine,butwhatimaginationcanachieve.SoplaceThomasMore’sstorybetween

    thewordsoftwolivingfictionwritersandyouimaginesomethingnew.

    “Utopianismisn’thope,stilllessoptimism:it

    isneed,anditisdesire”declaresChina

    MiévilleintheopeningessayofVerso’s

    quincentenaryeditionofUtopia.Then,with

    littlehope,andevenlessoptimismhebegins

    asecondessaytitle‘thelimitstoUtopia’with

    therecentreport(part-fundedbyNASA,no

    less)thatwarnedoftheimminentcollapseof

    globalcivilizationresultingfromtheclimate

    changethatiscoming;animmanentcollapse

    thatourunleashingofcorporatemonsters

    willmake‘difficulttoavoid’.

  • 2

    ThisDecembermarks500yearssinceThomasMore’swonder.Anideasparkedin

    hismindbythevoyagesoftheTheSantaMaría,NiñaandPinta–tinyships,no

    biggerthanmodernspaceshipcapsules,andnamedaftersaintsandagirl.Five

    hundredyearsseparate’sthosevoyagesfromtheApollomissionsandthedoomed

    SchiaparelliMarsLanderthatcrashedintothedustoftheredplanetonthe

    anniversaryofthefirstpublicationofMore’sutopiandreams.

    Today,invesselsnamedafterancientGreek(andRoman)godsandVictorian

    (Italian)astronomers,wenolongerdiscovernewworlds,butcrashintodeadred

    ones,asifdesperatelyseekinganescapefromtheplanetwearecurrently

    destroying.

    Utopiacanbetoxic.Weliveinaprofit-maximizingworldinwhichitisrational“…for

    theinstitutionsofourstatusquotodowhattheydo”.Profit-maximizationwasonce

    someone’sutopiandream,someoneEuclideanrationality.Manynowdreamofa

    betterworld,butoftenonlyaftertheapocalypsetocome,andthereareasmany

    versionsofthatapocalypsetochoosebetweenasthereareUtopias.

    ThomasMore’sUtopiaconsistedofmagnificenthousesthatwerethreestorieshigh,

    withglazedglasswindowsforall.Peoplelivinginthemwear“thesamesortof

    clothes,withoutanydistinctionexceptwhatisnecessarytodistinguishthetwo

    sexes…”.WearelivinginthatparticularUtopiatoday.Ourparentsdidnot.They,

    andalltheirforebearsbackatleasttoMore’stime,hadstricteruniformsand

    traditions.

  • 3

    Lookatourclothestoday,lookatourhomestoday,readthewordsfromhalfa

    millenniaagoandwonderhow,inlessthanhalfacentury,wehavechangedso

    muchthatwhatwasMore’sutopianvisionisnow,formany,reality.Peopletoday

    havemanytrades,theyhavesomedemocracyandyetwearestillburningupour

    planetandhaveunleashedthesuitedandbootedcorporatemadmenupon

    ourselves.Wheredidtheycomefrom?

    “UtopiahasbeenEuclidean,ithasbeenEuropean,andithasbeenmasculine”,

    concludesUrsulaLeGuinintheessaythatfollowsMore’sstoryinthis500-year

    reappraisal.Andsheisright.Theutopiathatisnowhometosomuchofhumanity,

    livinginmulti-storydwellings,allwearingthesamesortofclothes,isofEurope

    spreadworldwide,itisofworldofstraightlinesandperfectsolids.

    ForUrsulaLeGuinthemanycenturyvoyagetoUtopiapassesbyCopernicus

    learningthattheearthisnotthecentre,throughDarwin’srealisationthatmanis

    noteither,tosomeplacenew.Imagination,shesays,isourescaperoute.“Ithasno

    placeinthevocabularyofprofitmaking”.Earthseawasachildren’sstorysetinan

    imaginaryarchipelagosofislands,aplaceofmanypossibilities.ReprintingUtopia

    betweencontemporystoriessucceedsbecauseitsstretchesourimaginationsto

    furthershores,insearchofthefarthestshore.

    DannyDorling’slatestbook,“ABetterPolitics”isavailableforfreeonlineandtobuyonpaper:http://www.dannydorling.org/books/betterpolitics/


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