Abstract

Utopian literature constructs a new world governed by alternative temporalities and laws that envisions a better future.1 The literary structure of utopia varies, so too does the hermeneutical perspective of its readers, as Kenneth M. Roemer argues.2 Utopias invite readers to imagine a different set of circumstances as a challenge to their present reality; however, interpreting Utopia, especially Utopia in ancient literature, is a fraught task. Lyman Tower Sargent explains that the difficulty arises not only in the chronological and conceptual distance between the modern reader and the ancient text, but also in a reductionist impulse to apply a one-dimensional definition of Utopia to a multidimensional text.3 Over... Read More.