
The English Utopia
A.L. Morton(Author)
Antonis Balasopoulos(Editor)
Peter Lang Verlag
Published on 13. November 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
242 pages
978-1-78997-418-8 (ISBN)
Description
«Antonis Balasopoulos is to be heartily thanked for bringing back into print A. L. Morton's marvelous book The English Utopia - and for providing us with not only a useful and insightful Introduction, but also a comprehensive bibliography of Leslie Morton's many writings. We definitely need such works in these difficult times when democracy is under siege by authoritarian forces. Morton's chapters may well truly serve both to empower our critical thinking and to inspire our radical-democratic imaginations.»
(Harvey J Kaye, Professor Emeritus of Democracy & Justice, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay)
«Antonis Balasopoulos describes his job as an 'exercise in historical reclamation.' He is due much gratitude for both the scrupulousness and the expertise he brings to his task. The Introduction is a model of its kind, positioning Morton in his own milieu as a committed intellectual. Morton's book more than deserves this careful attention. In this new Ralahine edition, The English Utopia appears as the seminal text in utopian studies it should have been. »
(Patricia McManus, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Brighton)
A. L. Morton's classic 1952 study of utopias in the context of British social history constitutes one of the earliest sustained engagements with the social and ideological sources of the utopian imagination, the importance of the class struggle for literary production and of literary production for cultural, if not political hegemony. Traversing English literary history from the medieval poem on the Land of Cockaygne to Sir Thomas More, to William Morris's News from Nowhere and the subsequent decline of the genre and the eventual rise of anti-utopian and dystopian strains in the early twentieth century, The English Utopia remains provocative and critically engaging more than seventy years after its original publication. In addition to charting its significance as an intervention, the present edition also brings to light Morton's complex role as Left political activist, historian, scholarly catalyst and cultural critic - a paradigmatic instance of the engaged and public intellectual.
Reviews / Votes
Antonis Balasopoulos is to be heartily thanked for bringing back into print A.L. Morton's' marvelous book The English Utopia - and for providing us with not only a useful and insightful Introduction, but also a comprehensive bibliography of Lesley Morton's many writings. We definitely need such works in these difficult times when democracy is under siege by authoritarian forces. Morton's chapters may well truly serve both to empower our critical thinking and to inspire our radical-democratic imaginations. - Harvey J Kaye, Professor Emeritus of Democracy & Justice, University of Wisconsin-Green BayAntonis Balasopoulos describes his job as an 'exercise in historical reclamation.' He is due much gratitude for both the scrupulousness and the expertise he brings to his task. The Introduction is a model of its kind, positioning Morton in his own milieu as a committed intellectual. Morton's book more than deserves this careful attention. In this new Ralahine edition, The English Utopia appears as the seminal text in utopian studies it should have been. - Patricia McManus, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Brighton
More details
Series
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
441 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78997-418-8 (9781789974188)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

A. L. Morton | Antonis Balasopoulos
The English Utopia
E-Book
11/2023
1st Edition
Peter Lang Verlag
€60.49
Available for download

A. L. Morton | Antonis Balasopoulos
The English Utopia
E-Book
11/2023
1st Edition
Peter Lang Verlag
€60.49
Available for download
Persons
Author Bio: Arthur Leslie (A. L.) Morton was born in Hengrave, Suffolk in 1903. His first book, A People's History of England (1938) became a resounding success and established him as a leading figure for a younger generation of Marxist British Historians. He is the author of Language of Men, The English Utopia, The Everlasting Gospel: A Study in the Sources of William Blake, Socialism in Britain, The Matter of Britain: Essays in a Living Culture and The World of the Ranters: Religious Radicalism in the English Revolution. His published work also comprises several edited volumes and dozens of essays and reviews.
Editor Bio: Antonis Balasopoulos is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Cyprus. He has published extensively on utopian thought and literature, comparative literature, Marxism, political theory, and political philosophy in journals including Utopian Studies, Theory & Event, Postcolonial Studies and Cultural Critique and in several edited volumes. Most recently, he has co-edited Reading Texts on Sovereignty with Stella Achilleos (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021).
Content
Contents: Introduction - Poor Man's Heaven - The Island of the Saints - Revolution and Counter-Revolution - Reason in Despair - Reason in Revolt - The Dream of William Morris - Yesterday and Tomorrow - Tailpiece: Cokaygne Fantasy.