Erewhon
by Samuel Butlerpublished
2006
(first published 1872)
by Adamant Media Corporation
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binding
Paperback, 229 pages
isbn
0543899462
(isbn13: 9780543899460)
description
In this novel, Butler satirically describes a utopian society, using the civilization of 'Erewhon' ('nowhere,' scrambled) to satirize beliefs popular ...more
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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 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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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 December, 2006
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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While it is a little slow to start and there a points later on I'm not sure I agree with, I think the first few chapters are worth reading as they apply today. See, in the fictional country of Erewhon, people are punished legally and locked up for being physically ill, while they are treated by "Straiteners" for mental or criminal ills, much as we would call a doctor. This interesting inversion points at Victorian attitudes toward mental illness and crime that we're still struggling wi
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