Thomas More, Utopia

A. D. Cousins (Macquarie University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1516

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Treatise
Utopian / Dystopian

Resources

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Thomas More's

On the Best State of a Commonwealth and on the New Island of Utopia

(or just

Utopia

as the work is most commonly known) was first published in 1516 at Louvain. A second edition appeared in 1518. It was written in Latin for a relatively small readership of international, humanist scholars and was heavily promoted by More's friend Desiderius Erasmus, the celebrated Dutch humanist.

Utopia

takes the form of a dialogue supposedly held by a group of More's friends and in which a fictionalized version of More himself takes part. Insofar as it is a dialogue, the work is modeled on the dialogues of Cicero rather than on those of Plato (though it glances back to Plato's

Republic

); in other words, More's dialogue is not designed to reach a point where the issues and problems under…

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1961 words

Citation: Cousins, A. D.. "Utopia". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 October 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8578, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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