A Traveler from Altruria

by William Dean Howells, David W. Levy (Editor)

First published in 1894, A Traveler from Altruria tells the story of a foreign visitor who presents the concept of a Utopian society. Howells hoped his novel would allow readers to confront the inconsistencies, imperfections, and injustices of Gilded Age America. Reprinted here as a historical document, the text is supported with a conprehensive introduction, chonology, and questions for consideration.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Science Fiction, Utopia

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1894

About the author

Willam Dean Howells (1837-1920) was a novelist, short story writer, magazine editor, and mentor who wrote for various magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine.

In January 1866 James Fields offered him the assistant editor role at the Atlantic Monthly. Howells accepted after successfully negotiating for a higher salary, but was frustrated by Fields's close supervision. Howells was made editor in 1871, remaining in the position until 1881.

In 1869 he first met Mark Twain, which began a longtime friendship. Even more important for the development of his literary style — his advocacy of Realism — was his relationship with the journalist Jonathan Baxter Harrison, who during the 1870s wrote a series of articles for the Atlantic Monthly on the lives of ordinary Americans.

He wrote his first novel, Their Wedding Journey, in 1872, but his literary reputation took off with the realist novel A Modern Instance, published in 1882, which described the decay of a marriage. His 1885 novel The Rise of Silas Lapham is perhaps his best known, describing the rise and fall of an American entrepreneur of the paint business. His social views were also strongly represented in the novels Annie Kilburn (1888), A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890), and An Imperative Duty (1892). He was particularly outraged by the trials resulting from the Haymarket Riot.

His poems were collected during 1873 and 1886, and a volume under the title Stops of Various Quills was published during 1895. He was the initiator of the school of American realists who derived, through the Russians, from Balzac and had little sympathy with any other type of fiction, although he frequently encouraged new writers in whom he discovered new ideas.

Howells also wrote plays, criticism, and essays about contemporary literary figures such as Henrik Ibsen, Émile Zola, Giovanni Verga, Benito Pérez Galdós, and, especially, Leo Tolstoy, which helped establish their reputations in the United States. He also wrote critically in support of American writers Hamlin Garland, Stephen Crane, Emily Dickinson, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sarah Orne Jewett, Charles W. Chesnutt, Abraham Cahan, Madison Cawein,and Frank Norris. It is perhaps in this role that he had his greatest influence. In his "Editor's Study" column at the Atlantic Monthly and, later, at Harper's, he formulated and disseminated his theories of "realism" in literature.

In 1904 he was one of the first seven people chosen for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, of which he became president.

Howells died in Manhattan on May 11, 1920. He was buried in Cambridge Cemetery in Massachusetts.

Noting the "documentary" and truthful value of Howells' work, Henry James wrote: "Stroke by stroke and book by book your work was to become, for this exquisite notation of our whole democratic light and shade and give and take, in the highest degree documentary."

Reviews

[Wreade1872 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Utopian fiction, without the utopian part of it :P. So this entire thing is done as a series of conversations, its like one big lecture, so not great.
Its a fairly easy read though and since its about the gap between rich and poor its still relevant today. In fact i would say too relevant, or at least too familiar.
There are things of interest here. The writing is easy and witty at times. There's some some very blinkered sexism which you can laugh or wince at. Plus a brief mention of a mega-corporation controlling all aspects of a country, perhaps one of the first appearances of such an idea.

However i'm getting more discerning with every book i read and in a world of infinite books i felt like deducting a star.

[Theo! · Rating 5 out of 5]

My classmates hated this book and I have no idea why. Perhaps they're stupid?

[Donia Darwish]

مين فينا مش نفسه يعيش فى مكان بتسود فيه أجواء هادية ومفهاش صراعات ولا جرى ورا ترندات..
ولا سعى لمجرد التواجد والشو وخلاص
مين فينا مش بيحلم يشتغل ٣ ساعات ⏰ ويروح يرتاح 😴
ويصحى يمارس هواية 🎨 من الهوايات أو يتعلم حرفة جديدة وتوفر ليك ولغيرك وقت وفلوس كمان وتعيش مع دخلك فى راحة وأمان..
وهيبقى فيه وقت برضه للسهرات والاجتماعيات.. مش هننسى نفسنا يعنى لدوامة 🌀 الحياة 🤷‍♀️
ما أنت وقتك هيبقى متقسم صح ومجهودك متوظف تمام التمام
مش كله هرى وجرى وكأنك فى سباق
خيل 🏇🏻 بيجرى مش عارف امتى هيصفروا وينتهى المشوار..
صحيح طيب سيبنى اسألك سؤال ❓
تحب تعيش وتشتغل لنفسك فقط من غير مساعدة من الآخرين وتكبر أنت ومش مهم اللى حواليك❓

ولا تشتغل مع اللى حواليك ايد بإيد وتعيشوا فى نفس المستوى هادى وبسيط ومريح ❓
اجابتك هتحدد أنت تابع لأى مجتمع من المذكوريين فى الرواية ديه #مسافر_من_الجزيرة لـ #وليام_دين_هاولز وترجمة #صديق_صقر ومن إصدارات #دار_سما_للنشر_والتوزيع
تخيل كده يجيلك ضيف هيقضى معاك يومين يحكيلك عن المكان اللى عايش فيه ويقولك قواعده اللى ماشيين عليها بقالهم سنين ومرتاحين ومنسجمين… حياة بسيطة مفهاش كلاكيع ولا فيها طلبات كتير … مفيش قيمة للمال لكن كل الاهتمام رايح للمساواة بين الناس.

📌 "فى ألتروريا ليس ثمة عجلة أو هرولة، لأنه لا أحد يرغب فى أن يسبق أحد ولا أن يتخطاه بأى شكل كان".

حاول كده بقى تقنعه بمحتمعك اللى عايش فيه..

شغل ليل 🌙 نهار ☀️ عمال تجمع بس فى فلوس وخلاص ( ده مش محتمعنا طبعا 😄) احنا بنشتغل طول النهار وبيتصرفوا قبل ما ترجع آخر النهار عادى خالص 🤦🏼‍♀️
شغلك همك فيه مصلحتك فقط لا غير ومالكش دعوة مين حقق ايه غير أنك بس تسبقه علشان تعلى عليه لكن اللى أقل منك هتدوسه أصلا وتطلع عليه.. وعلى لسانك وأنا مالى بالآخرين…
هتقنعه بإيه كمان بأنك معندش وقت للهوايات من وجهة نظرك ده تضييع وقت وحاجة أى كلام…
ويعنى ايه ايدك فى ايد غيرك تشبل معاه الشيلة كل واحد له وظيفة ماليش أنى اساعده فيها..

📌 "إذا كنت تريد أن تصبح ثرياً، فيجب عليك أن تجعل الآخرين يعملون لديك.
طريق الثراء يعتمد على استغلال طاقات الآخرين".

طيب نعمل مقارنات ومجتمعك قدام مجتمعى ونشهد باقى الزوار … مين فيهم محتمع صحى ومفيد ومين فيهم ناجح ومبهر للغير.
الضيف VS المضيف وشوف هتبقى مرتاح فين 🤷‍♀️
لكن تفتكر أصلا مجتمع الضيف ده موحود فعلا فى الواقع وفيه ناس عايشين ولا ديه " يوتوبيا " بيتخيل نفسه يعيش فيها فى يوم مع الآخرين.

رواية غريبة عن ذوقى بس حبيتها وحبيت تفاصيلها، فكرة سرد الحياة السباسية والإجتماعية للمحتمع الأمريكى فى أواخر القرن التاسع عشر وعقد مقارنة بينها وبين مجتمع تانى مختلف تماما فى الفكر والعادات كانت موفقة جدا وممتعة بالنسبة ليا..
معلومات صحيح كتير ومحتاجة تركيز لكن من وجهة نظرى كانت مفيدة وقيمة.. حسيته كتاب وعامل نفسه رواية 😄 وبصراحة النقطة ديه تناولها عجبنى بالشكل ده.. والنهاية كمان جت مناسبة للحلم والتمنى اللى عيشنا فيه على مدار صفحات مع الضيف واليوتوبيا …الترجمة كانت ممتازة وزى ما فولت رواية دسمة محتاجة تركيز 😉

#مكتبة_دنيا
#قراءات_٢٠٢٤

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This political/economic treatise first published in 1894 could really be about modern Western society. It's a book about class and gender inequality, civil rights, and economic injustice. While we have made strides in all of those areas, there is still a large portion of the population that believes that "human nature" prevents us all from being equal. (Interestingly, the book does not address the topic of racial inequality; I guess that was too radical an idea, even for a left-leaning writer like Howells.)

The opinions of the American elites in this book read like a modern Republican presidential platform. For example, regarding government assistance to the poor and unemployed:
"As soon as they get any sort of [financial] help [from the government] they expect more; they count upon it, and they begin to live upon it."

And this exchange between the utopian from Altruria and the American protagonist:
“…a kindly impulse to aid one who needs your help is something to be guarded against as possibly pernicious?"
"Exactly," [the American] said. "And now you see what difficulties beset us in dealing with the problem of poverty. We cannot let people suffer, for that would be cruel; and we cannot relieve their need without pauperizing them."

On class inequality:
"I don't know about that," came from Reuben Camp [a farmer speaking to a society woman], with shocking promptness. "I don't believe we all have the same country. America is one thing for you, and it's quite another thing for us. America means ease and comfort and amusement for you, year in and year out, and if it means work, it's work that you _wish_ to do. For us, America means work that we _have_ to do, and hard work all the time if we're going to make both ends meet. It means liberty for you; but what liberty has a man got who doesn't know where his next meal is coming from? Once I was in a strike, when I was working on the railroad, and I've seen men come and give up their liberty for a chance to earn their family's living. They knew they were right, and that they ought to have stood up for their rights; but they had to lie down and lick the hand that fed them. Yes, we are all Americans, but I guess we haven't all got the same country, Mrs. Makely. What sort of a country has a blacklisted man got?"

The Altrurian sums up the difference between a laissez-faire society and a communist society:
"I wish that I had time to go into a study of some of the curious phases of the transformation from a civility in which the people lived _upon_ each other to one in which they lived _for_ each other. There is a famous passage in the inaugural message of our first Altrurian president which compares the new civic consciousness with that of a disembodied spirit released to the life beyond this and freed from all the selfish cares and greeds of the flesh.”

[Mike Zickar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting utopian novel by one of the US literary greats, basically his attempt to take advantage of the momentum for such works that was created by the recently published Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy.

The story involves a visitor from Altruia, a mysterious distant country, who is introduced to US society. The first two-thirds of the book are the most interesting, where the visitor observes and critiques US society, for being obsessed with greed and having strict class hierarchies. The last third of the book is less interesting: the visitor explains his country, it's history and ways of working. Clearly, Howells was better at critiquing US society rather than coming up with own solid vision.

[Frobisher Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the story of a 19th century gentleman visiting America who hails from the fictional Christian commonwealth of Altruria, a country which has managed to fully embrace a communitarian way of life in service to building Heaven on Earth. An excellent idea rendered pompously, filled with strawpersons, and which gives the rural poor in the tale an oversized natural-born morality which, overall, makes it a less-than-serious sort of novel. Given Howell's professional insistence on Realism over all other concerns, you'd think he'd be able to paint characters more real than those here. Still, I think he meant well, and there are plenty of enjoyable moments. Only if you are really trying to make a survey of Utopian literature is this a necessary read, however.

[Bryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

it reads like a political pamphlet from time to time. Or, more specifically, like a religious tract where the characters are simply used as types (void of real characterization) in order to create a setting for a debate regarding society. It is a combination of a utopia and travel narrative novel. Despite the lack of aesthetic appeal, it does offer several important probing questions regarding politics, and work.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. Makes you think about the American system in a way that you don't normally think about. Put into a novel form but still really good info on the system, politics, and the American dream.

[Hyrax · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, really. The story isn't very eventful which can make it a chore to read, but the book is 120+ years old and still so remarkably relevant that it's worth reading. I'd definitely recommend this book as more of a social commentary than anything else.

[Ronnae Stately · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had nothing to do with a romance of any kind unless it has to do with Mr. Homos and his country. I didn’t get the purpose of this book at all and still trying to figure out how it even ended up in my downloaded books.

[joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am dangerously close to rating this book five stars. It may be impossible to read, but should be an essential read for American culture.

[Jason Payne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. A society that naturally evolves toward altruism is pretty hard to swallow.

[Humphrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Best described as a Socratic dialogue on political economy, A Traveler from Altruria brims with Howells' wit and underscores his political commitments treated more novelistically elsewhere.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

In A Traveler from Altruria, William Dean Howells invites readers not to a war-torn world or a distant galaxy, but to the manicured lawns of a genteel American resort—where polite conversation disguises the deep fractures of class, conscience, and capitalism. At first glance, it seems like a genteel slice-of-life novel about wealthy vacationers and their leisurely debates. But when a curious stranger from the island of Altruria arrives, the novel transforms into something far more powerful: a Socratic takedown of American individualism in favor of cooperative, moral society.

The story follows Mr. Homos, the titular traveler, as he listens to the proud assertions of America’s elite—bankers, merchants, journalists, and judges—and quietly, devastatingly, exposes the contradictions at the heart of their values. While the Americans praise free enterprise, competition, and private wealth as the pinnacles of civilization, Mr. Homos introduces the philosophy of his homeland: a society rooted in mutual aid, shared labor, and moral equality. The contrast couldn’t be starker—and Howells uses it to hold up a mirror to the Gilded Age’s ethical void.

Stylistically, the novel is genteel, measured, and intellectual—but there’s a slow-burning fury underneath the calm surface. Each chapter is structured like a dinner party argument, with carefully layered rebuttals and ethical challenges. The brilliance of Howells lies in his restraint: he lets the smug self-assurance of the American characters unravel themselves as they attempt to justify child labor, exploitative banking, and class stratification. Mr. Homos, like a utopian ghost, simply asks: Why must it be this way? And the answers, or lack thereof, speak volumes.

Though written over a century ago, A Traveler from Altruria still resonates in today’s world of growing inequality, consumerism, and moral compromise. Altruria itself isn’t just an idealized place—it’s a test of the reader’s values. What would we give up to build a more just world? What illusions are we protecting by defending the status quo?

In essence, A Traveler from Altruria is not simply a utopian fantasy—it’s a polite, poetic rebellion against a society that measures worth in dollars and dismisses compassion as inefficiency. With quiet elegance and razor-sharp intellect, Howells crafted a story that still makes us squirm, think, and long for an Altruria of our own.

[Jerome Berglund · Rating 5 out of 5]

As important and far-reaching a book in its social critique and moral significance as 1984 or Brave New World

If you enjoy speculative science fiction and socioeconomic or political commentary and investigations in the dystopic realms of LeGuin or Huxley or K. Dick, I highly suggest taking a brief and pleasurable romp through a rare depiction of a feasible Utopia of sorts, conceived as coexisting alongside our contemporary oligarchies and thriving admirably.

Written by William Dean Howells, onetime ‘dean of American letters’ who edited for Atlantic Monthly, professed to Christian socialism heavily influenced by the views of Tolstoy (leaning toward the anarchistic formulations rather than more authoritarian Marxist applications), the short, intensely enjoyable and quite readably delivered narrative paints a grim picture of industrial capitalist erosion of the American ideal, proposes novel and intriguing egalitarian alternatives for considering.

A pivotal treatise which anticipated many of the concerns and objectives which would come to dominate the social justice movements of our present day. It’s no wonder the author would prove impressive enough company to win close friendships with Mark Twain and Henry James both.

If you care to better understand questions of labor, gender, higher education, private property, religion and class distinction as they relate to the modern citizen of Western society, and how each might be better understood and improved upon or re-conceived in practice plausibly, this book presents and invaluable and essential treatise worth your time to meditate upon at length. One of the most important fictional works of the twenty century, it’s no wonder its mention gets avoided almost superstitiously, for subversion has never been so eloquently, peaceably or entertainingly related. If they ever produced an adaptation for the screen which honestly captured the novel’s intentions and spirit it could quite conceivably change the world. Groundbreaking, seminal stuff!

[Jason Lawyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the inquisitive dialogue of the Altrurian (made up country) visitor and the American citizens throughout the early chapters of the book. Helped paint the historical picture and culture of America during the Gilded Age, era of economic business boom, and Captains of Industry endeavors of the land. A lot was extremely generalized of what all citizens thought or desired, which I find hard to imagine was the overall consensus of people in the expanding country that now had a limited western frontier. However, I do believe labor from underprivileged people was exploited during this era, for the benefit of a few.

The last few chapters were interesting to finally hear the cultural differences of Altruria, but by the end I was over hearing about the utopian society of the traveler. No matter the form of government for a city, state, or village, we live in a broken sinful world, good luck ever finding and establishing a perfect society!

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe five stars is a bit too generous for this Utopian novel I read some 15 years ago in my early twenties. I haven't reread it to see whether I'd still rate it as highly today. What I do recall is that the characters were amusing but not especially deep, and the plot all but absent. So why the five stars, fortasse requiris.

Because after all these years I still remember the impression the book made on me. Its critique of capitalism is one of the most incisive (and concise) I've ever read. It has left an indelible mark on me in a way few books do.

That and the current rating of 3.08 is shamefully low.

[Caroline Taheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book! I read it for class but I've been recommending it to my friends. It's surprisingly relevant despite being published in book form in 1894.