Erewhon
by Samuel Butler
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Read in July, 2008
So, I finally finished this 200 page book that I started reading in October! Well, although it took me a long time to get through the book, I think it was worth it. The thing is, it is a very, very thoughtful book - certainly not a light read, so I couldn't read it unless I really had the free time and energy to concentrate. And, if I didn't get through a chapter in one sitting, I usually had to start if over later because I couldn't follow the chapter otherwise. AT ANY RATE, I found this bo...more
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Read in May, 2008
I admit I skimmed over a lot of this book. It's a satire about Victorian society and frankly I'm too far removed from a lot of the issues to get much out of his turning them upside down. But the three chapters on machines-- Wow! When I read Dune in the 80s the idea of the "Butlerian Jihad" struck me as a particularly unusual new idea. I never would have believed that the plot-- machines evolving through natural and artificial selection into a kind of artificial life, reproducing with...more
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Read in January, 2006
If you think at all about the history of humans on this planet and the course of history- past, present, and future, you must read this book.
Buitler was privileged to be living in a world that was not yet entirely mapped, and he imagined a society existing across an Australian (or New Zealand) mountain range in order to make a criticism of his own, Victorian England. The sense of wonder and possibility in Butler's time is lost, I think, on us of the 21st century.
But don't think that this is ...more
Buitler was privileged to be living in a world that was not yet entirely mapped, and he imagined a society existing across an Australian (or New Zealand) mountain range in order to make a criticism of his own, Victorian England. The sense of wonder and possibility in Butler's time is lost, I think, on us of the 21st century.
But don't think that this is ...more
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Read in January, 2005
An important utopian/dystopian novel that, like Gulliver's Travels, critiques the author's contemporary society via a look at a topsy-turvy society, literally on the other side of the world in a New Zealand-ish geography. Features an excellent escape by hot air balloon.
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Butler is not a great writer, but he is a great storyteller. His occasional awkwardness of language even adds to Erewhon's charm. The sarcastic, satirical tone makes it fun. That it anticipated the ubiquitous 20th century Sci-Fi distopian novel makes it important.
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Read in June, 2004
recommends it for:
gluttons for punishment
This was excruciatingly slow-moving and it was all I could do to finish this book. I think if Butler had actually written the book all at once, instead of as installments in his local newspaper in the 1870's it would have flowed better. Oy!
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My Father told me to read this when I was in high school. Kind of harder to pick up what was going on back then but later in college when re-read I got a deep appreciation for the depth of this book. Kind of comes out of "nowhere" ...
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Read in November, 2007
A strange Utopia where machines are banned, illness is criminal, and prophets declare animals and plants should only be eaten after dying independently of human action. Fairly enjoyable.
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Read in January, 1993
recommended to Thomas by:
Some Professorrecommends it for: Those Who Enjoy Satire
Solid work that would fit snug right next to The Blithdale Romance and Gulliver's Travels.
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