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Utopia & Utopian Literature

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Book Summary for Utopia

Sir Thomas More Biography

Life of Sir Thomas More
Other Works of Thomas More

About Utopia and Utopian Literature

Historical Background
The Utopian Theme
Utopian Literature Before More
Utopian Literature After More
Anti-Utopias
Established Utopian Communities
Publication Data for More's Utopia

Summary and Analysis for Book I: The Dialogue of Counsel

Setting the Stage
Opening of the Discussion
The Meeting at Cardinal Morton's House
Hypothetical Meeting of the French Council
The Council for Financial Affairs
More Versus Hythloday on Public Service

Summary and Analysis for Book II: The Discourse on Utopia

Geographical Features of Utopia
Country Life
The Cities
Officials
Occupations
Population Control
Markets
Community Life
Travel
The Economy
Learning
Philosophy
Slavery
Euthanasia
Marriage and Divorce
Laws
Treaties and Alliances
War
Religion
Peroration
More's Concluding Observation

Read the Original Text for Utopia

Introduction
Section 1: Discourses of Raphael Hythloday, of the Best State of a Commonwealth
Section 2: Of Their Towns, Particularly of Amaurot
Section 3: Of Their Magistrates
Section 4: Of Their Trades, and Manner of Life
Section 5: Of Their Traffic
Section 6: Of the Travelling of the Utopians
Section 7: Of Their Slaves, and of Their Marriages
Section 8: Of Their Military Discipline
Section 9: Of the Religions of the Utopians

Critical Essays

The Composition of Utopia

Study and Homework Help

Quiz
Essay Questions

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Sir Thomas More Biography

Other Works of Thomas More

Since Utopia is the only book by More that most people have ever heard of, there is the common impression that he is a one-book man. Actually he was a prolific writer, but because much that he wrote was theological in nature and written in Latin, it has had little circulation since his time. It is interesting to note that early in his career he published an abridged translation of a biography of the brilliant Italian humanist, Pico della Mirandula (The Life of John Picus, Earl of Mirandula). The best known of his works after Utopia was A History of Richard III. For several centuries after that work appeared it exerted great influence either directly or indirectly on the interpretation of Richard's character and the events of his reign. Shakespeare's Richard III was a product of that interpretation. Recent scholarship has tended to discount More's report of that king as untrustworthy, and there can be no doubt that More's sources of information were strongly prejudiced in favor of the Tudor regime and, consequently, anti-Yorkist.

A moving document, Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, written by More in prison shortly before his execution, has been compared to Boethius's Consolations of Philosophy.


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