An oitocentist utopia: equality, labor and state in a society imaginated by Edward Bellamy

Abstract

This article attempts to examine the utopian literature of the nineteenth century, approaching more directly, in more deeply, the imaginary society devised by Edward Bellamy, in the novel Looking Backward (1888). These more specific analyse is preceded by a brief introduction to utopian literature since the XVI century – recovering comparatively propositions of authors such as Thomas More, Campanella, Francis Bacon, Fourier, Saint-Simon, and Robert Owen – , besides a theoric discussion about the models of equality distribution, in this case considering the reflections of Norberto Bobbio and Amartya Sen on this topic. The novel of Bellamy is addressed in their historical context, and is justified because it concerns a bridge between literature and society, since this work has aroused great interest of readers of the time and even inspired a motivation for carrying out specific utopian experiments.