In the Shadow of the Real: A Reading of Thomas More’s Utopia

Thomas More’s Utopia, now considered a foundational work of the speculative fiction genre, re-imagines society so as to create a fictional ideal. In doing so the text alters the co-ordinates and rethinks many social institutions such as the family and concepts like private property. This paper explores how More’s imagination is circumscribed by the social world he inhabits since the spectre of the real frequently haunts the ideal world that Utopia represents.