Alternative Worlds Imagined, 1500-1700: Essays on Radicalism, Utopianism and Reality

Description

This book address the relationship between utopian and radical thought, particularly in the early modern period, and puts forward alternatives approaches to imagined ‘realities’. Alternative Worlds Imagined, 1500-1700 explores the nature and meaning of radicalism in a traditional society; the necessity of fiction both in rejecting and constructing the status quo; and the circumstances in which radical and utopian fictions appear to become imperative. In particular, it closely examines non-violence in Gerrard Winstanley’s thought; millennialism and utopianism as mutual critiques; form and substance in early modern utopianism/radicalism; Thomas More’s utopian theatre of interests; and James Harrington and the political necessity of narrative fiction. This detailed analysis underpins observations about the longer term historical significance and meaning of both radicalism and utopianism. Front Matter ....Pages i-viii Introduction (J. C. Davis)....Pages 1-13 Radicalism in a Traditional Society: The Evaluation of Radical Thought in the English Commonwealth 1649–1660 (J. C. Davis)....Pages 15-38 Reassessing Radicalism in a Traditional Society: Two Questions (J. C. Davis)....Pages 39-74 Conquering the Conquest: The Limits of Non-Violence in Gerrard Winstanley’s Thought (J. C. Davis)....Pages 75-91 Formal Utopia/Informal Millennium: The Struggle Between Form and Substance as a Context for Seventeenth-Century Utopianism (J. C. Davis)....Pages 93-110 Against Formality: One Aspect of the English Revolution (J. C. Davis)....Pages 111-138 Religion and the Struggle for Freedom in the English Revolution (J. C. Davis)....Pages 139-171 Thomas More’s Utopia: Sources, Legacy and Interpretation (J. C. Davis)....Pages 173-196 Goodbye to Utopia: Thomas More’s Utopian Conclusion (J. C. Davis)....Pages 197-204 James Harrington’s Utopian Radicalism: Oceana and the Narration of an Alternative World (J. C. Davis)....Pages 205-226 Conclusion (J. C. Davis)....Pages 227-240 Back Matter ....Pages 241-246