Author Description

Utopia One Of These Topics, Germane To More's Time, Is That Of Enclosure: The Practice Of Fencing In ('enclosing') Common Land For Private Use, Frequently The Profitable Practice Of Sheep-rearing For Wool Production. The Discussion Of Enclosure Results In Perhaps The Most Famous Passage From Utopia, In Which Hythloday Suggests That The Sheep Of England Are 'devourers Of Men', Because Their (enclosed) Grazing Land Causes The Deaths Of Those Who Might Have Otherwise Taken Their Livelihood From It. The Critique Of Enclosure Connects More's Mission To The Low Countries (his Negotiations Primarily Concerned The Cloth Trade) With The Theme Of Private Versus Common Property, Which Runs Through The Text. At Last, Hythloday Brings The Conversation To A Discussion Of An Island He Had Visited In The New World, Called Utopia, In Which There Is No Private Property. With Private Property Abolished, Hythloday Posits That So Too Is Eliminated Pride, Which He Holds To Be The Greatest Of All Sins And The Source Of All Ills In Contemporary European Society. In Book Ii, Hythloday Is The Narrator, And Focus Shifts To His Lengthy Description Of The Island Of Utopia. This Longer Book Covers Utopia's Geography, Customs, Laws, Culture, Military Exploits, History And Religion, Among Other Things. The Island Of Utopia Stands In Stark Contrast To Its Parallel: England. Whereas In England Social Fictions Such As Property And Rank Divide The People, In Utopia Equality Keeps All Its Citizenry United And, As A Result, Happy. There Is No Private Property In Utopia; Homes Are Assigned By Lottery And Periodically Exchanged. Though There Are Roles-such As Priest Or Statesman-which Are Accorded Respect, They Bring Them No Sense Of Elevation In Anything Like A Social Hierarchy. Utopia Is Largely Tolerant Of Religious Pluralism (with A Few Notable Exceptions) And Has Not Previously Been Made Aware Of Christianity. Its Religion Is Based On Reason, An Experiment In Imagining A Pre-christian 'natural Religi