Book & Review Forums: Utopia
Utopian Terminology
I'm just about to finish Thomas More's "Utopia." I greatly enjoy dystopian literature, and have wanted for a long time to read the "grandfather" of this genre.
I have to say that it's pretty dry, but I've enjoyed it overall, and would welcome any others to read & discuss it.
Anyway, I'm somewhat intrigued by More's coining of terms for the magistrates, priests, etc. I know he borrows heavily from Greek, and the origin of U- (a pun on "eu," meaning "well or good" and "no place") and -topos ("place"). But I've Googled some of the other terms, and come up with nothing, except the occasional blogger who's obviously read & admired "Utopia," and uses one of these terms as a screen name.
Anyway, at some point, I hope to see in this Forum that someone else has read it, and we can have a meaningful discussion of it! Thanks!
Replies (5)
Posted by
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I have read it. I think I finished it in October. I shall check and I shall try to find something too.
Feb 18, 2007 11:35 am
by Alexei -
Thanks!
I just finished it...
by spectrekitty -
I've just read it for school. My copy has translations of all the Greek terms More came up with, so if you're really curious I could find them for you. The vast majority of them don't have an important meaning - some are puns like the title, some are simply descriptive.
Feb 20, 2007 11:28 pm
by sogrammatical -
If you could tell me the edition & publisher, I'd appreciate it...
by spectrekitty -
Sorry, but I didn't menage to find anything. My copy get lost somewhere ):
by Alexei
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