Like most Victorian prose-writing, this long utopian novel is characterised by a hero-centred plot, lively dialogues, minute descriptions of settings and characters. The introductory account of English history from 1889 to 1970 focuses on the Great Labour Question, universal suffrage and Women’s Rights. «What a beautiful utopia! What hollowness!» are the author’s critical remarks to a future dystopian world of homologous needs and supplies. Against the «everlasting sameness» of Equality he advocates individual genius to reject «the levelling, soul-killing vacuum which is called the social state». A co-operative system established on a large scale represses man’s personal enterprise; one mould, one brain, and a singleness of ideas generate dulled, subdued arts; on the contrary, a state system based on speculation, competition and the circulation of the currency enhances inventive intellectual faculties. While social philanthropy sustains the aged, the infirm and the young, individual virtues stem from inequality. The reformer’s agenda emphasizes the chivalric code of honour, courage and love; the author’s cultural background is rooted in the idealistic principles of hero-worship expressed by Carlyle as well as in the revival of the knight’s quest by Victorian medievalism. The utopian attitude interweaves the late-Romantic worship of a unique personality with a bourgeois logic, which regards industry and capital as man’s driving agents.
James Ingleton: The History of a Social State. A.D. 2000. “By Mr. Dick” (1893)
SPINOZZI, Paola
2000
Abstract
Like most Victorian prose-writing, this long utopian novel is characterised by a hero-centred plot, lively dialogues, minute descriptions of settings and characters. The introductory account of English history from 1889 to 1970 focuses on the Great Labour Question, universal suffrage and Women’s Rights. «What a beautiful utopia! What hollowness!» are the author’s critical remarks to a future dystopian world of homologous needs and supplies. Against the «everlasting sameness» of Equality he advocates individual genius to reject «the levelling, soul-killing vacuum which is called the social state». A co-operative system established on a large scale represses man’s personal enterprise; one mould, one brain, and a singleness of ideas generate dulled, subdued arts; on the contrary, a state system based on speculation, competition and the circulation of the currency enhances inventive intellectual faculties. While social philanthropy sustains the aged, the infirm and the young, individual virtues stem from inequality. The reformer’s agenda emphasizes the chivalric code of honour, courage and love; the author’s cultural background is rooted in the idealistic principles of hero-worship expressed by Carlyle as well as in the revival of the knight’s quest by Victorian medievalism. The utopian attitude interweaves the late-Romantic worship of a unique personality with a bourgeois logic, which regards industry and capital as man’s driving agents.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
