Klik op een omslag om naar Google Boeken te gaan.
Bezig met laden... Looking Backwards from 2000 to 1887 (origineel 1888; editie 2008)door Edward Bellamy
Informatie over het werkLooking Backward, 2000-1887 door Edward Bellamy (Author) (1888)
Ambleside Books (303) » 19 meer CCE 1000 Good Books List (308) Books Read in 2014 (1,790) Out of Copyright (142) Read These Too (109) The American Experience (133) 1880s (10) Books Read in 2011 (204) Victorian Period (77) Interpersonal Novels (70) Unread books (494) Bezig met laden...
Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. A classic and seminal text but, like all utopian novels, it presents a static world-view via a tiresome didactic narrative. I found it less thought-provoking and interesting than I anticipated. My grandfather, like many other readers in the 1920s and 30s, acquired his copy to read as a vision of how the workable socialist society would be effected. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
Onderdeel van de reeks(en)Onderdeel van de uitgeversreeks(en)Doubleday Dolphin (C55) — 13 meer BevatIs herverteld inHeeft als vervolg (buiten de reeks)Heeft als proloog (buiten de reeks)Wordt op gereageerd inHeeft als studiegids voor studenten
Fiction.
Science Fiction.
HTML: One of the best-selling books of its era, Looking Backwards presents a science-fiction-influenced twist on standard political philosophy. In the novel, protagonist Julian West finds himself transported to twenty-first century America, which has become a socialist utopia. With all the talk in the media about socialism these days, Looking Backwards offers a fascinating glimpse into the origins of the socialist school of thought. .Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
Actuele discussiesGeenPopulaire omslagen
Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)813.4Literature English (North America) American fiction Later 19th Century 1861-1900LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
Ben jij dit?Word een LibraryThing Auteur. |
If a good book should engage a reader in a debate about its themes, Looking Backward is a good book. Edward Bellamy sends his protagonist, Julian West, forward in time to the year 2000 to witness the social transformation America has undergone in the 113 years since Julian's unusual hypnotic session propels him into the future. The novel is full of criticisms of Julian's original time, the Gilded Age, detailed through the contrasting organization of business and society in the future.
If a good book has a basis in the reality of human nature, Looking Backward fails to qualify. The America of the future is a utopia of social equality where there is no need for money, or armies. Where the citizens of the country have voluntarily migrated to this new arrangement in which the government owns all means of production and distribution, even decides what should be imported from foreign countries. Where all citizens, even children, receive an equal share of the national wealth annually to spend as they see fit (although they are so satisfied with their condition that they are incapable of spending it all). In other words, America has been overrun by non-humans who fervently believe the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one (regards, Mr. Spock) and act in accordance.
Looking Backward is an interesting read which I recommend with caveats. I laughed at Bellamy's thoughts on freedom and equality, because the patriarchy of his day is still in effect in the future. The equivalent of noblesse oblige has been transferred from the wealthy and their obligations to the less-fortunate to men and their treatment of women. If you take offense at patronizing attitudes about the delicacy of women you might skip this book. Even if you can accept travel across time, the novel also contains a fantastic coincidence, which I won't spoil, which overwhelms even the most ludicrous of Bellamy's visions of an enlightened future. If you read and enjoy 18th and 19th century fiction, this twist will be in keeping with those of greater works such as Les Miserables and Jane Eyre. If you need a plot grounded in the semblance of the possible, this book isn't for you. But overall it's an enjoyable book, if for no other reason than to see what Marx might have done as a novelist.
* - I've had to set my themed reading list aside for now, as I'm taking a couple literature classes this summer through a state program that provides free tuition for Texas residents over 55. This novel is assigned for my 19th Century American Literature class focused on the Gilded Age. ( )