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Utopia

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The Handmaid's Tale (wiki) The Handmaid's Tale won the 1985 Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987; it was also nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, the 1986 Booker Prize, and the 1987 Prometheus Award. It has been adapted for the cinema, radio, opera, and stage. Plot summary[edit] The Handmaid's Tale is set in the near future in the Republic of Gilead, a theocratic military dictatorship formed within the borders of what was formerly the United States of America. Beginning with a staged terrorist attack (blamed on Islamic extremist terrorists) that kills the President and most of Congress, a movement calling itself the "Sons of Jacob" launches a revolution and suspends the United States Constitution under the pretext of restoring order.

The story is presented from the point of view of a woman called Offred (literally Of-Fred). The Commander is a high-ranking official in Gilead. After Offred's initial meeting with Nick, they begin to rendezvous more frequently. Characters[edit] The Handmaid s Tale (etext) A chair, a table, a lamp. Above, on the white ceiling, a relief ornament in the shape of a wreath, and in the center of it a blank space, plastered over, like the place in a face where the eye has been taken out. There must have been a chandelier, once. They've removed anything you could tie a rope to. A window, two white curtains. Under the window, a window seat with a little cushion. When the window is partly open-it only opens partly-the air can come in and make the curtains move. I can sit in the chair, or on the window seat, hands folded, and watch this.

On the wall above the chair, a picture, framed but with no glass: a print of flowers, blue irises, watercolor. Think of it as being in the army, said Aunt Lydia. A bed. So. But a chair, sunlight, flowers: these are not to be dismissed. The bell that measures time is ringing. I get up out of the chair, advance my feet into the sunlight, in their red shoes, flat-heeled to save the spine and not for dancing. Or we would gossip. The Handmaid's Tale (audiobook) The Handmaid's Tale - Official Trailer (1990)

The Handmaid's Tale - Salvaging/Particicution Scene. The Handmaid's Tale (complete film) Overview (wiki) The utopia and its offshoot, the dystopia, are genres of literature that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal society, or utopia, as the setting for a novel. Dystopian fiction (sometimes referred to as apocalyptic literature) is the opposite: creation of an utterly horrible or degraded society that is generally headed to an irreversible oblivion, or dystopia.[1] Many novels combine both, often as a metaphor for the different directions humanity can take in its choices, ending up with one of two possible futures. Both utopias and dystopias are commonly found in science fiction and other speculative fiction genres, and arguably are by definition a type of speculative fiction.

More than 400 utopian works were published prior to the year 1900 in the English language alone, with more than a thousand others during the twentieth century.[2] Subgenres[edit] Utopian fiction[edit] Dystopian fiction[edit] Combinations[edit] Ecotopian fiction[edit] Butler's Erewhon (wiki) The first few chapters of the novel dealing with the discovery of Erewhon are in fact based on Butler's own experiences in New Zealand where, as a young man, he worked as a sheep farmer on Mesopotamia Station for about four years (1860–1864), and explored parts of the interior of the South Island and which he wrote about in his A First Year in Canterbury Settlement (1863).

In the preface to the first edition of his book, Butler specified: The author wishes it to be understood that Erewhon is pronounced as a word of three syllables, all short — thus, E-re-whon. Nevertheless, the word is occasionally pronounced with two syllables as 'air – one'. Content[edit] The greater part of the book consists of a description of Erewhon. The nature of this nation is intended to be ambiguous. Erewhon satirises various aspects of Victorian society, including criminal punishment, religion and anthropocentrism. The Book of the Machines[edit] Characters[edit] Reception[edit] Influence and legacy[edit] Erewhon by Samuel Butler (audiobook) More's Utopia (wiki) Utopia (in full: De optimo reip. statv, deque noua insula Vtopia, libellus uere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festiuus ) is a work of fiction and political philosophy by Thomas More published in 1516. English translations of the title include A Truly Golden Little Book, No Less Beneficial Than Entertaining, of the Best State of a Republic, and of the New Island Utopia (literal) and A Fruitful and Pleasant Work of the Best State of a Public Weal , and of the New Isle Called Utopia (traditional). [ 1 ] (See " title " below.)

The book, written in Latin , is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious , social and political customs. [ edit ] Title The title De optimo rei publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia literally translates, "Of a republic's best state and of the new island Utopia". One interpretation holds that this suggests that while Utopia might be some sort of perfected society, it is ultimately unreachable (see below). [ edit ] Plot. More's Utopia (audiobook) Thomas MORE (1478 - 1535), translated by Gilbert BURNET (1643 - 1715) This book is all about the fictional country called Utopia.

It is a country with an ‘ideal’ form of communism, in which everything really does belong to everybody, everyone does the work they want to, and everyone is alright with that. This country uses gold for chamber pots and prison chains, pearls and diamonds for children’s playthings, and requires that a man and a woman see each other exactly as they are, naked, before getting married. This book gave the word 'utopia' the meaning of a perfect society, while the Greek word actually means ‘no place’. Enjoy listening to this story about a country that really is too good to be true. This is the 17th century translation by Gilbert Burnet, edited in the 19th century by Henry Morley. More's Utopia (eText) Erewhon (ebook) Share Email Facebook Twitter Google+ Lockerz Grab Delicious Digg Google Bookmarks MySpace StumbleUpon Reddit By Lockerz Victoria University of Wellington Library [advanced search] ▼ About this page Title: Erewhon: or Over the Range Author: Samuel Butler Publication details: Jonathan Crane , 1921, London Part of: Keywords: Prose Literature License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence Share: Full details… Other formats Connect ▼ Browse collection Erewhon Contents Home | Advanced Search | About | Help © 2012 Victoria University of Wellington | Contact us | Conditions of use.

Plato's Republic (wiki) Three interpretations of the Republic are presented; they are not exhaustive in their treatments of the work, but are examples of contemporary interpretation. In his A History of Western Philosophy (1945), Bertrand Russell identifies three parts to the Republic:[7] Books I–V: the eutopia portraying the ideal community and the education of the Guardians, parting from attempting to define justice;Books VI–VII: define “philosopher”, since philosophers are the ideal rulers of such a community;Books VIII–X: discuss the pros and cons of various practical forms of government.

Francis Cornford, Kurt Hildebrandt (de), and Eric Voegelin contributed to an establishment of sub-divisions marked with special formulae in Greek: Prologue I.1. 327a—328b. I.2—I.5. 328b—331d. I.6—1.9. 331e—336a. I.10—1.24. 336b—354c. Introduction II.1—II.10. 357a—369b. Part I: Genesis and Order of the Polis II.11—II.16. 369b—376e. II.16—III.18. 376e—412b. III.19—IV.5. 412b—427c. IV.6—IV.19. 427c—445e. V.1—V.16. 449a—471c. P.