Literary notes about utopian (AI summary)
The word "utopian" in literature is deployed to capture a spectrum of idealism, from borderline fantastical dreams to scathing critiques of impractical schemes. In some works, it conveys the allure of a perfect, harmonious society—a lofty ideal that fuels social experiments and visionary plans ([1], [2], [3]). In others, it assumes a more critical tone, labeling projects or ideologies as naïvely impractical or even reactionary ([4], [5], [6]). Occasionally, "utopian" is employed with irony, hinting at the chasm between lofty aspirations and real-world feasibility, and serving as a shorthand to question whether certain proposals are anything more than fanciful indulgences ([7], [8], [9]).
- It was a rather utopian scheme, as most schemes for moral progress are, in their beginning.
— from Mark Twain's Letters — Volume 2 (1867-1875) by Mark Twain - I had no convenient cicerone in the pattern of the Utopian books.
— from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells - Take, for instance, that old pacifist gag, that Utopian dream that is crystallized in the words: 'The road to universal peace.'
— from The Pride of Palomar by Peter B. (Peter Bernard) Kyne - Malthus brought to the front the great stumbling-block in the way of Utopian optimism.
— from Social Rights And Duties: Addresses to Ethical Societies. Vol 1 [of 2] by Leslie Stephen - My remarks on workmen's dwellings, and on unskilled laborers and their mode of life, are no more Utopian than the rest of my scheme.
— from The Jewish State by Theodor Herzl - In either case, it is both reactionary and Utopian.
— from The Communist Manifesto by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx - [15] traffic, and all sex problems with a zeal that was partly pathological and partly the result of a Utopian dream.
— from Motherhood and the Relationships of the Sexes by C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine) Hartley - I think Mr Wells tried very valiantly to avoid the all too obvious mistake made by other Utopian builders, both romantic and practical.
— from H. G. Wells by J. D. (John Davys) Beresford - That it must be so housed here for the present, and for a long time to come, all schemes of suburban relief being as yet utopian, impracticable.
— from How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York by Jacob A. Riis