Edward Bellamy (1850–1898)
Forfatter af Tilbageblik Aar 2000
Om forfatteren
It is as a romantric Utopian rather than a novelist or profound thinker that Edward Bellamy is remembered and read today. While working as a journalist in Springfield, Massachusetts, he began to write novels and later short stories but did not achieve much success until the publication of Looking vis mere Backward (1888). The hero of this fantasy falls asleep in 1887 and awakens in the year 2000 to find himself in a humane scientific and socialistic utopia. After selling fewer than 10,000 copies in its first year, Looking Backward became enormously popular. Clubs were formed to promote Bellamy's social ideas, and he became a leader of a nationalist movement, crusading for economic equality, brotherhood, and the progressive nationalization of industry. Americans as diverse as Thorstein Veblen and John Dewey have been influenced by Bellamy's suggestion that the products of industrial energy, intelligently organized, could be used to obtain a nobler future. His The Religion of Solidarity (1940), long out of print, is again available. (Bowker Author Biography) vis mindre
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Serier
Værker af Edward Bellamy
Apparitions Of Things To Come: Edward Bellamy's Tales Of Mystery & Imagination (1990) 11 eksemplarer
The parable of the water tank 7 eksemplarer
The Collected works of Edward Bellamy 3 eksemplarer
Equality and Other Works by Edward Bellamy (Unexpurgated Edition) (Halcyon Classics) (2009) 2 eksemplarer
Guardando indietro (2000-1887) 1 eksemplar
Equality & Looking Backward 1 eksemplar
Equality (1897). By: Edward Bellamy: Equality is a utopian novel by Edward Bellamy (2016) 1 eksemplar
Looking Backward [Short Story] 1 eksemplar
Gelijkheid voor allen' nieuwe bewerking naar de Amerikaansche uitg. van 'Equality' door H.N. 1 eksemplar
De grote visioenen van Edward Bellamy 1 eksemplar
Associated Works
Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Science Fiction of the 19th Century (1981) — Bidragyder — 136 eksemplarer
Socialism in America from the Shakers to the Third International (1970) — Bidragyder — 41 eksemplarer
Satte nøgleord på
Almen Viden
- Kanonisk navn
- Bellamy, Edward
- Juridisk navn
- Bellamy, Edward
- Andre navne
- Bellamy, Eduardo
- Fødselsdato
- 1850-03-26
- Dødsdag
- 1898-05-22
- Køn
- male
- Nationalitet
- USA
- Fødested
- Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, USA
- Dødssted
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Bopæl
- Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts
- Uddannelse
- Union College
- Erhverv
- journalist
- Relationer
- Bellamy, Joseph (g-g-grandfather)
Bellamy, Francis (cousin)
Medlemmer
Anmeldelser
A classic well worth the read, and maybe worth going back to some day.
A classic and seminal text but, like all utopian novels, it presents a static world-view via a tiresome didactic narrative. I found it less thought-provoking and interesting than I anticipated. My grandfather, like many other readers in the 1920s and 30s, acquired his copy to read as a vision of how the workable socialist society would be effected.
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Unread books (1)
Out of Copyright (1)
Victorian Period (1)
Read These Too (1)
1880s (1)
Ambleside Books (1)
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Associated Authors
Statistikker
- Værker
- 38
- Also by
- 9
- Medlemmer
- 3,322
- Popularitet
- #7,701
- Vurdering
- 3.3
- Anmeldelser
- 65
- ISBN
- 352
- Sprog
- 12
- Udvalgt
- 2
If a good book should engage a reader in a debate about its themes, Looking Backward is a good book. Edward Bellamy sends his protagonist, Julian West, forward in time to the year 2000 to witness the social transformation America has undergone in the 113 years since Julian's unusual hypnotic session propels him into the future. The novel is full of criticisms of Julian's original time, the Gilded Age, detailed through the contrasting organization of business and society in the future.
If a good book has a basis in the reality of human nature, Looking Backward fails to qualify. The America of the future is a utopia of social equality where there is no need for money, or armies. Where the citizens of the country have voluntarily migrated to this new arrangement in which the government owns all means of production and distribution, even decides what should be imported from foreign countries. Where all citizens, even children, receive an equal share of the national wealth annually to spend as they see fit (although they are so satisfied with their condition that they are incapable of spending it all). In other words, America has been overrun by non-humans who fervently believe the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one (regards, Mr. Spock) and act in accordance.
Looking Backward is an interesting read which I recommend with caveats. I laughed at Bellamy's thoughts on freedom and equality, because the patriarchy of his day is still in effect in the future. The equivalent of noblesse oblige has been transferred from the wealthy and their obligations to the less-fortunate to men and their treatment of women. If you take offense at patronizing attitudes about the delicacy of women you might skip this book. Even if you can accept travel across time, the novel also contains a fantastic coincidence, which I won't spoil, which overwhelms even the most ludicrous of Bellamy's visions of an enlightened future. If you read and enjoy 18th and 19th century fiction, this twist will be in keeping with those of greater works such as Les Miserables and Jane Eyre. If you need a plot grounded in the semblance of the possible, this book isn't for you. But overall it's an enjoyable book, if for no other reason than to see what Marx might have done as a novelist.
* - I've had to set my themed reading list aside for now, as I'm taking a couple literature classes this summer through a state program that provides free tuition for Texas residents over 55. This novel is assigned for my 19th Century American Literature class focused on the Gilded Age.… (mere)