Utopian literature often portrays a society that seems in some ways perfect--a paradise. But, even in a peaceful and prosperous community, there may be some elements of the dystopian vision (human nature may naturally introduce evil, pain and death--or other elements of repression). The main characters may discover that their utopia is not all that they hoped for and dreamed of. The reality may threaten to destroy everything they believe in. Still, the possibility of Utopia is ever tantalizing. It's a dream that we'd all live in a society where we don't fear each other--when nobody is hungry or sick... Paradise on Earth.
Utopian Literature
- The Republic (380 BCE) - Plato
- The City of God (written 413-426 CE) - Augustine of Hippo
- Tao Hua Yuan, (421 CE)
- Al-Madina al-Fadila (874 CE-950 CE) - Al-Farabi
- Utopia (1516 CE) - Thomas More
- Christianopolis (1619 CE) - Johann Valentin Andreæ
- The City of the Sun (1623 CE) - Tommaso Campanella
- New Atlantis (1627 CE) - Francis Bacon
- The Law of Freedom in a Platform (1652 CE) - Gerrard Winstanley
- Gulliver's Travels (1726 CE) - Jonathan Swift
- Erewhon (1872 CE) - Samuel Butler
- News from Nowhere (1892 CE) William Morris
- Looking Backward (1888 CE) - Edward Bellamy.
- Gloriana, or the Revolution of 1900 (1890 CE) - Lady Florence Dixie
- A Modern Utopia (1905) - H.G. Wells.
- Men Like Gods (1923) - H.G. Wells
- Islandia (1942) - Austin Tappan Wright
- Walden Two (1948) - B. F. Skinner
- Childhood's End (1954) - Arthur C. Clarke
- Big Planet (1957), - Jack Vance
- Island (1962) - Aldous Huxley
- The Islar (1969) - Aldous Huxley
- The Lathe of Heaven (1971) - Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Dispossessed (1974) - Ursula K. Le Guin
- Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston (1975) - Ernest Callenbach
- Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) - Marge Piercy
- The Probability Broach (1980) - L. Neil Smith
- Always Coming Home (1985) - Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Fifth Sacred Thing (1993) - Starhawk
- The Giver (1993) - Lois Lowry
