Utopia unlimited: reassessing American literary utopias【翻译】-CSDN博客

ABSTRACT
This project argues that American literary utopias of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, from Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward (1888) and
William Dean Howells’ Altrurian Romances (1907) to Aldous Huxley’s Island
and Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Dispossessed (1974), offer a unique narrative site to
approach the ethical and political concerns of postmodernity. Literary utopias are
conventionally read as either dogmatic and totalitarian schemes or impractical and
fanciful dreams; they are interpreted as representations of an archetypal ideology.
I contend that these conventional interpretations overlay and belie an essentially
post-ideological irony and ambivalence inherent in the neologism “utopia”—the
“good place” (eu-topos) that is simultaneously “no place” (ou-topos). Utopian
narratives remain unfinished projects whose political and ethical potential resides
in the suspension of utopia’s realization, a notion discussed in Jacques Derrida’s
exploration of the irony and ultimate ethical significance of an idea that cannot be
fully presented or realized (différance), a space that cannot be traversed (a-poria),
and of a community-to-come engendered by these notions. Accordingly, my
readings of American literary utopias disclose narrative characteristics, from
temporal instability to radical shifts in points of view, to show that the value of
utopian literature lies in its exploration of alternative possibilities without
prescribing finite and present solutions.
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UTOPIA UNLIMITED:
REASSESSING AMERICAN LITERARY UTOPIAS
by
Angela Marie Warfield
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree
in English in
the Graduate College of
The University of Iowa
May 2009
Thesis Supervisors: Professor Tom Lutz
Associate Professor Rob Latham
Graduate College
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL
___________________________
PH.D. THESIS
____________
This is to certify that the Ph. D. thesis of
Angela Marie Warfield
has been approved by the Examining Committee for the
thesis requirement for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in
English at the May 2009 graduation.
Thesis Committee: ________________________________
Tom Lutz, Thesis Supervisor
________________________________
Rob Latham, Thesis Supervisor
________________________________
Bluford Adams
________________________________
David Wittenberg
________________________________
Shelton Stromquist
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To Paige
iii
Utopia’s much too big for one small head
I’ll float it as a Company Limited!
Gilbert & Sullivan, Utopia Limited
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to acknowledge many people for helping me during my doctoral
work. I would especially like to thank my dissertation directors, Tom Lutz and Rob
Latham, for their generous time, advice, encouragement, humor, and support. Thank you
for persevering with me through the completion of this project. I am also grateful for an
exceptional dissertation committee and I thank Bluford Adams, Shel Stromquist, and
Dave Wittenberg for their guidance and assistance.
To my friends and colleagues in Iowa City and at the University of Iowa,
particularly Adrienne and Gunnar Benediktsson, Jeff Charis-Carlson, Kim Cohen, Peggy
Cullivan, Stacy Erickson, Paul Kleinman, Vickie Larsen, John Pendell, Anne Peterson,
Sean Scanlan, Erica Still, James Sprengelmeyer, Jeff Swenson, Mike Untrauer, and Keith
Wilhite. Thank you for your good cheer, warm friendship, and thoughtful advice. To my
favorite baristas at the New Pi Co-Op, Java House, Panera, and Starbucks in Iowa City
and St. Louis, thank you.
Most importantly, I express gratitude to my family. To my grandfather, Rollie
Nepodal, who earnestly read the beginnings of this project and unfortunately passed away
before its completion. To my parents and extended family for helping me maintain focus
with their insistent “Have you written that book yet?” inquiries. To my husband,
Richard, I am forever thankful for your immeasurable patience, understanding, emotional
support, generosity, and motivation. Finally, I want to thank my daughter, Paige, for her
unconditional love and for helping me keep life, and this project, in perspective. I hope
the pages of this dissertation inspire and encourage her to never stop dreaming and
working for a better world.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER
I. EDWARD BELLAMY’S UTOPIC DREAMS: IRONIC
IMPOSSIBILITY IN LOOKING BACKWARD AND EQUALITY 33
II. HOPE IN DOUBT: WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS’ ALTRURIAN
ROMANCES 89
III. BRAVE NEW WORLDS: UTOPIAN HORIZONS IN THE WORK
OF ALDOUS HUXLEY 140
IV. THERE’S “NO PLACE” LIKE HOME: URSULA K. LE GUIN’S
AMBIGUOUS UTOPIAS 187
AFTERWORD 229
BIBLIOGRAPHY 239