General Discussion

annabanana

(52,791 posts) Sat Mar 31, 2012, 03:12 PM Mar 2012

Have just discovered "Looking Backward" by Edward Bellamy...

from the forward:

Few, especially among the younger readers of this book, will realize that Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward is one of the most remarkable books ever published in America. Firs of all, in terms of its popularity - after Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben-Hur, it was the most popular book at the turn of the century, printed in many million of copies in the United States, translated into over twenty languages. But the fact that it was one of the three greatest bestsellers in its time means little in comparison with the intellectual and emotional influence this book had, following its publication in 1888.. . . .

I found this Signet Classic edition, published in 1960..

The narrator is talking to people in the year 2000, when all inequity and economic classes have been long outgrown by an equitable utopia.. He regales them with stories of the bad old days,

This book sparked some of the biggest populist pushback against the robber barons.. and I do believe that it could use a little resurgence!

6 replies

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Have just discovered "Looking Backward" by Edward Bellamy... (Original Post) annabanana Mar 2012 OP

I have that Signet edition. murielm99 Mar 2012 #1

I remember the 'Prodigious Coach' metaphor the most... deadinsider Mar 2012 #2

Was the third "New from Nowhere" by William Morris? hunter Mar 2012 #5

Coud be... deadinsider Apr 2012 #6

I read it in my teens. The politics were beyond me at that point, but he was TalkingDog Mar 2012 #3

I just reread it last week. hunter Mar 2012 #4

murielm99

(30,741 posts)

1. I have that Signet edition.

Reply to annabanana (Original post)

Sat Mar 31, 2012, 03:19 PM

Mar 2012

It is somewhere in my bookshelves, battered and yellowed. I will look for it. I remember reading it when I was in my twenties, but it deserves another look. Thanks for posting this!

deadinsider

(201 posts)

2. I remember the 'Prodigious Coach' metaphor the most...

Reply to annabanana (Original post)

Sat Mar 31, 2012, 03:31 PM

Mar 2012

I had to read this for English Comp 1.

If I remember correctly this book is consider part of the so-called classic 'Utopian' trilogy which include "Utopia" by Thomas Moore; I can't remember the 3rd one.

The 'Utopian' trilogy is the literary opposite of the so-called 'Dystopian' trilogy comprised of "We", "Brave New World", and "1984".

Its been a long, long time since I read it but it essentially is considered communist, ergo why it really isn't well known any longer.

hunter

(38,312 posts)

5. Was the third "New from Nowhere" by William Morris?

Reply to deadinsider (Reply #2)

Sat Mar 31, 2012, 10:57 PM

Mar 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_from_Nowhere

Gutenburg.org has them:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/624 Looking Backward, Edward Bellemy

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3261 News from Nowhere, William Morris

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2130 Utopia, Thomas More

deadinsider

(201 posts)

6. Coud be...

Reply to hunter (Reply #5)

Wed Apr 4, 2012, 01:06 AM

Apr 2012

It's been awhile. I guess I could google 'utopian trilogy' or something.

A precursor to the 'dystopian trilogy' is London's 'the Iron Heel.' My favorite book.

TalkingDog

(9,001 posts)

3. I read it in my teens. The politics were beyond me at that point, but he was

Reply to annabanana (Original post)

Sat Mar 31, 2012, 03:38 PM

Mar 2012

prescient as hell about the internet, UPS/FedEx and quite a few other things.

hunter

(38,312 posts)

4. I just reread it last week.

Reply to annabanana (Original post)

Sat Mar 31, 2012, 04:23 PM

Mar 2012

Don't know why, but I've got an utterly mad sequel brewing on my desktop as I type this.

Bellamy's utopia seems a lot more practical than Morris's News from Nowhere and is much more appealing than the techno-utopias of H.G. Wells which, with 20/20 hindsight, are highly tainted with fascism.

Bellamy's sequel Equality is a tough slog. I can't read it without picturing Bellamy at his writing desk, sentenced to death by tuberculosis, desperate to flesh out his utopia before the lights dim.

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