though no man has anything, yet they are all rich; for what can make a man so rich as to lead a serene and cheerful life, free from anxieties; neither apprehending want himself
Thomas More, Utopia
To mark the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s Utopia in Leuven in 1516, Senate House Library has mounted a thought-provoking exhibition and programme of public engagement events including lectures, film screenings, an arts workshop and an academic symposium. The season is a celebration of More’s influential book and its enduring influence in politics, economic and social reform, literature and popular culture. It revolves around the idea of how the concept of the ideal society has travelled and evolved across time and place: from Renaissance England to the liberation movements of Africa and Latin America in the second half of the 20th century, from the egalitarian communities and garden cities imagined by British, French and American philanthropists in the 18th and 19th centuries, to the depiction of futuristic visions of the world that led to the emergence of science fiction as a literary genre. Finally, it will also address how utopian and dystopian visions have influenced popular culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. The exhibition draws primarily from Senate House Library’s extensive collection and also includes items from the deposited archives and special collections of the Institutes of Commonwealth and Latin American Studies.
though no man has anything, yet they are all rich; for what can make a man so rich as to lead a serene and cheerful life, free from anxieties; neither apprehending want himself Thomas More, Utopia To mark the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s Utopia in Leuven in 1516, Sena…
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