THE SURVIVAL and MUTATION of Utoi

PHOENIX RENEWED: THE SURVIVAL AND MUTATION OF UTOi’IAN THOUGHT IN NORTH AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION, 1965—1982 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR TEE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY HODA MOUKHTAR ZAKI DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE ATLANTA, GEORGIA DECEMBER 1984 ABS TRACT POLITICAL SCIENCE ZAKI, H01P4 MOURHIAR B.A. , American University in Cairo, 1971 N.A., Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia, 1974 Phoenix Renewed: The Survival and_Mutation_of Utopian Thought in ~urth American Science Fiction, 1965—1982 Adviser: Dr. Alex Hillingham The&is d~tei Decenber, 1984 This dissertation is concerned with the status of utoni en in rwdcra timas. As such it is concerned with a historic problem ir pci tial :hearv, i.e., how to visualize a perfect human community. Since the turn of the 20th century, we have seen a decline in utopian ~i tera.ture. A variety of commentators, including Mannhein: and Mumford, noted and decried this trend. It seemed ironic to those observers that utopia~s demise would occur when humanity was closest to realizing material abundance for all. My research evaluates this irony. The primary data of my work are drawn from the genre of science fiction. The new locus for utopian thought seems natural enough. Science fiction is a speculative activity and, in its emphasis on science and technology, concerns itself with an area of human activity that has been intimately connected with the idea of progress since the European Enlightenment. A number of scholars including Mumford, Sargent, Suvin, and Williams, have asserted that contemporary utopian thought could be found in science fiction. Their argument has been strengthened by some science fiction novels published since the l960s. These novels visualized superior societies. My research further evaluates the link between utopian thought and science fiction. I come to the conclusion that science fiction containa many utopian attributes. However, the genre differs from utopian thought in one critical respect: it depoliticizes the public domain. As such, science fiction fails to perform a historic role of utopian thought, namely: to provide a new understanding of politics. Utopian literature has undergone a nutation in its abandonment of the political. This denatu ring of utopian thought has led to an anomaly in political philosophy—— the emergence of an apolitical utopian literature within the confines of science fiction. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank my advisor Alex Willingham for his patience, consideration, and guidance. I would also like to express my appreciation to the rest of~ committee: Milton Crook, Larry Noble, and Carl Spight. Carolyn Rhodes provided generous support. Mdi— tionally, the institutional support provided by Hampton University is greatly appreciated. Finally, and most Importantly, to my immediate and extended family and network of friends, I want to express my gratitude and love. Camille and Isai know the place they occupied in the scheme of things. To !~ Parents Eva Saigh and Noukbtar A. Zaki TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page INTRODUCTION 1 I. UTOPIAN THOUGHT 4 II. SCIENCE FICTION 28 III. THE NEBULA NOVELS 49 IV. URSULA K. L GUi~ 83 V. CONCLUSION 119 APPENDIX I 127 APPENDIX II 128 BIBLIOGRAPHY 129 INTRODUCTION This dissertation is concerned with the status of utopian thought in modem times. As such it is concerned with a historic problem in political theory, i.e., how to visualize a perfect human community. Prom the very beginning, utopian thought has been closely associated with the enterprise of political theory. Yet in recent times we have seen a decline of utopian literature. This has been apparent since the turn of the 20th century. A variety of commentators noted and decried this trend. They mourned the death of utopia at the very time that unprecedented advances were being made in natural science, technology, and political democracy. These advances were impressive enough to warrant serious speculation about the future where the quest for a just society would no longer be constrained by a “kingdom of necessity.” It seemed ironic to those observers that utopia’s demise would occur when humanity was closest to realizing material abundance for all. My research is designed to evaluate this irony. I begin with the hypothesis concerning the decline in the amount of attention given to utopian thought by social theorists. This problem is discussed in Chapter I. The primary data of my work are drawn from the flourishing utopianism in the area of science fiction novels. I give direct con— sideration to science fiction in Chapters Il—IV. The new locus for utopian thought seems natural enough. Science fiction is a speculative 1 2 activity and, in its ençhasis on science and technology, concerns itself with an area of human activity that has been intimately connected with the idea of progress since the European Enlightenment. A speculative approach to the human condition disciplined by modern science and tech nology would seem to satisfy the historic burden of utopian thought while reinvigorating the search for the Good Life generally. A few critics of science fiction have connected the genre to utopian literature. They point to a small number of science fiction novels which contain many utopian attributes. My research further evaluates the link between utopian thought and science fiction. I go beyond the current analyses by examining the utopianism of the genre as a whole from the vantage point of political theory. As a genre, science fiction is a “popular” literature with a mess audience. The possibility exists then that, ‘whatever its message, it will have appeal beyond the usual confines of traditional political thec’ry. Political theorists will find it particularly urgent then to wonder whether the utopianism of science fiction fulfills the role of classic utopian thought. Whether our ultimate stance is affirmative or critical, systematic evaluation of this subject matter is required. The analysis presented herein is intended to be a contribution toward that end. The contents of this study will evaluate contemporary utopian thought in the following manner: Chapter I examines the tradition of modern utopian thought and four of its attributes; the development of North American science fiction, its premises and its themes are described in Chapter II; an analysis of the primary data, science fiction novels, 3 is the focus of Chapters III and IV; while the final chapter evaluates the new mode of utopian thought for elements of change and continuity. CHAPTER I UTOPIAN THOUGHT Utopian literature is a small part of a greater utopian propensity in humankind. This ‘utopian longing” has been expressed in diverse cultural objects——myths, fairy tales, poems, and utopias.2 Utopias describe imaginary societies that embody an author’s concepts of the Good Life and human felicity. The utopian tradition may be divided into 1Frank P. Manuel and Fritzie P. Manuel, Utopian Thought in the Western World (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 1979). See also Harry Levin, “The Great Good Place,” review of ~pjan Thought in the Western World by Frank and Fritzie Manuel, in The New York Review of Books, 6 March 1980, p. 47. 2Ernst Bloch has contributed much in this area. In The Princ~~ oT~~e published over the years of 1955 to 1959, Bloch looked at every culturai object which contained congealed hope——epics, fairy tales, political utopias, religious and secular myths, and poems, to name a few. Human nature, according to Bloch, was to struggle for complete ness and the utopian element in humans was an enduring characteristic. See David Cross, “Ernst Bloch: The Dialectics of Hope,” in The Unknown Dimension: European Marxism Since Lenin, ed. Dick Howard and Karl F. Kiare (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1972), p. 114. See also Gross, “Marxism and Utopia: Ernst Bloch,” in Towards a New Marxism: Proceedings of the First International Telos Conference, October 8—11, 1970. Water loo, Ontario, ed. Bart Grahl and Paul Piccone (St. Louis, Mo.: Telos Press, 1973), pp. 85—92; Sandor Ranoti, “Bloch and Luk~cs: Two Radical Critics in a ‘Cod—Forsaken World’,” Telos 25 (Fall 1975): 155—164; Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form: Twentieth—Century Dialectical Theories of Literature (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1971), pp. 116—159; J~irgen Moltmann, “Hope and Confidence: A Conver sation with Ernst Bloch,” Religion, Revolution, and the Future, trans. M. Douglas Meeds (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1969), pp. 148—176: and J~irgen R~ih1e, ‘Toward the Dawn,” Literature and Revolution: A Critical Study of the Writer and Communism in the Twentieth Cent~, trans. Jean Steinberg (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969), pp. 284—293. 4 5 two periods: one, the classical and Christian utopias which were designed for contemplative purposes;1 and two, modern utopias which have been calls to action, describing the ideal society and galvanizing its readers to achieve it. The father of modern utopian thought is indisputably Sir Thomas More who in the 16th century coined the word itself to intentionally mean a good place (eutopia) or no place (outopia). With the publication of his Utopia in 1516, More established the form of the genre for centuries to come.2 The output of utopian literature has varied greatly from 1516 to the present; the 17th and 19th centuries are distinguished as being ‘Classical utopian works would include Plato’s Republic, Judeo— Christian myths of paradise and the millennium, St. Augustine’s City of God, and the medieval images of the land of Cokaygne. See Manuel and Manuel, pp. 33—114. Three main interpretations of More’s Utopia exist in the criti— cal literature. The first sees More’s attack on the land—owning aris tocracy as an attack on feudalism and a support of bourgeois democracy. This is clear in Russell A.

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