Open AccessTrouble in Paradise
Author(s) -
Sam Gilchrist Hall
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the anachronist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2063-126X
pISSN - 1219-2589
DOI - 10.53720/cbxn2238
Subject(s) - paradise , textuality , utopia , interpretation (philosophy) , fantasy , blueprint , art , monarchy , sovereignty , literature , philosophy , art history , law , visual arts , political science , politics , linguistics
Viewing utopias and histories as two sides of the same fantasy enables an interpretation of Henry Neville’s The Isle of Pines (1668) that reads it as both a caustic commentary on the problems inherent in monarchical government—especially when an absolute sovereign is dissolute—and a profoundly self-critical utopia. It is primarily through its complex and, at times, parodic inter- textuality with Exodus that this text offers an ironic commentary on the notion of paradise itself, a beguiling no-place, located in the dimmest recesses of the past, which continues to inspire blueprints for a better world.