Description
About the Author
Nivedita Bagchi is professor at Millersville University of Pennsylvania
Reviews
Human Nature and Politics in Utopian and Anti-Utopian Fiction is more than a book about idealistic and pessimistic fictional writers. Bagchi skillfully considers whether human nature is a guide or a straight jacket for deciding how best to act. If nature does not direct choice, are we wise enough to construct a good society or will unrestrained freedoms lead to horrifying results? As Bagchi points out, the answers to these questions will decide our political destiny. -- James Pontuso, Hampden-Sydney College
Bagchi's dispassionate analysis of utopian and dystopian fiction shows how these genres help us better understand ourselves. Utopias reflect humanity's perennial quest for a harmonious and stable world-a world quite unlike our own. Dystopias chasten utopian hopes, insisting on the recalcitrance of human nature and its resistance to the social engineering necessary to pursue utopia. For Bagchi, the worlds created by More, Bellamy, Huxley, Orwell, and Le Guin are so many invitations to consider the deepest questions of human nature and politics. -- Sara Henary, Missouri State University
Bagchi provokes readers of utopias/dystopias to describe and evaluate how their authors have framed what people are made of and are capable of as a subject of intense interest and interdisciplinary heft. Using classic texts and deep insights in political science, philosophy, and psychology, she provides an indispensable analytical structure for reconsidering all texts on the utopian/anti-utopian/dystopia continuum. As this genre (broadly considered) of texts grows in number and importance to readers and viewers in our current era of critique of what is and what can be, her approach is rich, revelatory, and critical to students and teachers. -- Kim McCollum-Clark, Millersville University
Book Information
ISBN 9781498551663
Author Nivedita Bagchi
Format Hardback
Page Count 100
Imprint Lexington Books
Publisher Lexington Books
Weight(grams) 327g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 159mm * 14mm