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Claeys, Gregory, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature. New York: Cambridge UP, 2010. 295 pp. $85.00.
Cambridge University Press's latest contribution to the field of Utopian studies, The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature, offers readers new to Utopian studies a detailed overview of the basic terminology and concepts surrounding the field in the "history" section of the book. The work also presents more experienced scholars with several texts and approaches with which to discuss Utopian literature in part two of the book, titled "literature." On the whole, this collection of essays employs wellknown Utopian scholars - like Lyman Tower Sargent, Peter Fitting, Nicole Pohl, and editor/contributor George Claeys- as well as a range of political and cultural influences on utopia. More importantly, the essays in this anthology consistently remind readers of the power that Utopian thought has on everyday action.
The first section of the book provides readers with a chronological overview of the history of Utopian thought augmented by each author's focus on issues that they have deemed important to Utopian studies. In chapter one, Fatima Vieria introduces one of the major issues of Utopian studies: die "tension" introduced by Thomas More's terms eutopia ("the good place") and utopia ("non-place") "that has persisted over time" (5). Vieria also surveys the various neologisms...