Utopia
by Thomas More · De optimo reipublicae statu deque nova insula Utopia
Assigned by 3 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1516
- Era
- Renaissance
- Form
- Political theory
- Language
- Latin
- Length
- Short · 140 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendUtopiaW. W. Norton, Norton Critical Editions, 2011George M. Logan's third edition, with the Robert M. Adams translation, background documents and criticism.
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A fiction in two books, written in Latin for humanist readers. In the first, More meets the traveller Raphael Hythloday in Antwerp and they debate whether a philosopher should advise kings, with Hythloday attacking enclosure and the hanging of thieves in England. In the second, Hythloday describes the island of Utopia, where property is held in common, everyone works six hours a day, gold is used for chamber pots, and religious toleration is law. Whether More endorses it or is joking has been argued ever since.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Utopia are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
