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My utopia is your utopia? William Morris, utopian theory and the claims of the past

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Davidson, Joe PL 

Abstract

jats:p This article examines the relationship between utopian production and reception via a reading of the work of the great utopian author and theorist William Morris. This relationship has invariably been defined by an inequality: utopian producers have claimed unlimited freedom in their attempts to imagine new worlds, while utopian recipients have been asked to adopt such visions as their own without question. Morris’s work suggests two possible responses to this inequality. One response, associated with theorist Miguel Abensour, is to liberate reception, with Morris’s utopianism containing an invitation to readers to reformulate the vision proffered. However, this response, despite its dominance in contemporary utopian theory, not only misreads Morris but also undermines the political efficacy of utopianism. Consequently, I suggest that Morris responds to the problem of utopian inequality by constraining production, proposing a historical control on utopianising; new utopias are directed by an archive of visions articulated in past struggles. </jats:p>

Description

Keywords

50 Philosophy and Religious Studies, 10 Reduced Inequalities

Journal Title

Thesis Eleven

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0725-5136
1461-7455

Volume Title

152

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Rights

All rights reserved