Utopia

Utopia (Libellus vere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus, de optimo rei
publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia) is a work of fiction and socio-
political satire by Thomas More (1478-1535) published in 1516 in Latin. The
book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and
its religious, social and political customs. Many aspects of More's
description of Utopia are reminiscent of life in monasteries. Utopia was begun
while More was an envoy in the Low Countries in May 1515. More started by
writing the introduction and the description of the society which would become
the second half of the work and on his return to England he wrote the
"dialogue of counsel", completing the work in 1516. In the same year, it was
printed in Leuven under Erasmus's editorship and after revisions by More it
was printed in Basel in November 1518. It was not until 1551, sixteen years
after More's execution, that it was first published in England as an English
translation by Ralph Robinson. Gilbert Burnet's translation of 1684 is
probably the most commonly cited version. The work seems to have been popular,
if misunderstood: the introduction of More's Epigrams of 1518 mentions a man
who did not regard More as a good writer. The eponymous title Utopia has since
eclipsed More's original story and the term is now commonly used to describe
an idyllic, imaginary society. Although he may not have directly founded the
contemporary notion of what has since become known as Utopian and dystopian
fiction, More certainly popularised the idea of imagined parallel realities,
and some of the early works which owe a debt to Utopia must include The City
of the Sun by Tommaso Campanella, Description of the Republic of
Christianopolis by Johannes Valentinus Andreae, New Atlantis by Francis Bacon
and Candide by Voltaire. The politics of Utopia have been seen as influential
to the ideas of Anabaptism and communism.[citation needed] While utopian
socialism was used to describe the first concepts of socialism, later Marxist
theorists tended to see the ideas as too simplistic and not grounded on
realistic principles. The religious message in the work and its uncertain,
possibly satiric, tone has also alienated some theorists from the work. An
applied example of More's Utopia can be seen in Vasco de Quiroga's implemented
society in Michoacán, Mexico, which was directly inspired by More's work.