Utopian Novel ID Extravaganza!

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Here is what I remember: reading an article about the utopian novel in seventh grade, with examples of the genre's best exemplars following. I remember reading the name of one, and I remember distinctly that Tahiti was in the name. I remember nothing else about it. I tried looking it up on Amazon, and predictably found about a zillion travel guides and absolutely nothing useful. Help me (please)!

owen moorhead (i heart daniel miller), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 20:02 (nineteen years ago)

Denis Diderot, champion of reason and enlightenment, wrote in 1773 a Supplement au Voyage de Bougainville, in which he portrays Tahiti as a utopia of libertarian sexuality. For Diderot, the Tahitians, free from Christian superstition, are able to take rational, healthy pleasure in one another's bodies. Far from driving them mad, or turning them into pox-ridden imbeciles, sex makes them happy. Pagan love was the Enlightenment's favourite fantasy. Watteau's Pilgrimage to Cythera stands near the beginning of this rococo revolution.

From this. Maybe?

Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 00:19 (nineteen years ago)


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.