Wow. It took me a little longer to get back from Altruria than I thought it would take me. I'll try Looking Backwards and filling in a few (not many) details on the groups we've invesitigated since finishing the Howells novell, just to get the history straightened out. We're going to look at two more 19th Century Utopias--we might call them "The Brainiest" and "The Sexiest", though the second might be not entirely fair to Mr. Noyes.
So far, most of our Utopian communities trace their roots back to either England or Germany. You might expect France to get in the act. And if you look at the name Fourier, you'll see that here they come. These are "secular" communities, though they have connections to the Unitarians and to the Transcendentalists. As you read these pages, see how many names you may recognize, either from History or English courses, or just from your general understanding of New England. The map will show you that Brook Farm wasn't very far from the Boston Center of its day, and you'll also note that the "Farmers" were quite as much city folk. Some of you will enjoy this, I think. And some may want to read a bit more than I've assigned. Remember we set the clocks back an hour Saturday night, so you have a wee bit of extra time.
For Friday, November 8Oneida: "Free Love"? Is that Perfectionism and Utopia?
Read, in Americas Communal Utopias,
Free Love and Community: John Humphrey Noyes and the Oneida Perfectionists.
And finally, a Utopian Community founded in America with no real European antecedents. The first of the web links is to a secondary source. It will be useful to us because of some of the difficulties 19th century authors had writing about S.E.X. We still have a little trouble talking about it--people have been booted from Facebook for certain posts. Noyes, of course, is pro "complex" marriage. As the word "unmasked" indicates, John B. Ellis is against it--very much so. I think you'll enjoy watching him fumble around for words and phrases which will present his point of view without offending his audience. Things haven't changed that much in the dialogues between social liberals and conservatives.
I'm hoping to divide you into pairs, one to be criticism givers, one to be criticism receivers. If that utopian scheme doesn't work, we'll revert to ordinary dissusion.
This couple didn't just want to "do it", they wanted to produce an offspring by doing it. Off to the committee to seek permission. Very democratic. Men and women both get to vote yes or no. Click on the image to see more cartoons, drawings, and photographs of the Oneida Community
