Utopia - Definition of Literary Term

Utopia is an ideal place that does not exist in reality. The word utopia, which comes from the Greek
for outopia, meaning "no place," and eutopia, meaning "good place," is itself a pun referring to a
nonexistent good place.
The term utopia derives from Utopia (1515-1516), a book written in Latin by the Renaissance
humanist Sir Thomas More which describes a perfect commonwealth. More formed his title by
conflating the Greek words eutopia and outopia. Mores famous pieces of utopian literature refer
not only to an imaginary, perfect place, but also to a work describing such a place. The utopian
genre reached its height much later, flourishing in nineteenth-century Anglo-American literature.
Utopias are frequently depicted as places that have been lost, forgotten or unknown to the society of
the author or to any other society. They are generally rediscovered by some fictitious, adventurous
traveler who somehow ends up in a very distant and delightful land and then returns to tell stories
about this fantastic place. Some utopian texts subtly satirize the specific utopia described; others
satirize humanitys dreams about and longing for utopia in general. Dystopias are the opposite of
utopias; they are horrific places, usually characterized by degenerate or oppressive societies. Some
of the examples are Platos Republic (c. 260 B.C.). Francis Bacons The New Atlantis (1627), Samuel
Butlers Erewhon (1872), William Morriss News from Nowhere (1888), H.G. Wellss A Modern Utopia
(1900).