A Traveler from Altruria W D Howells Books
Download As PDF : A Traveler from Altruria W D Howells Books
A Utopian/Dystopian Classic! This revealing tale was first published in 1894. Regardless of the reader's political leanings, this book is a fascinating and thought provoking read. Mr. Homos, a foreigner from Altruria, a Utopian country inhabited exclusively by altruists, who believe that they have a moral obligation to help and serve others even at the sacrifice of self-interest, comes to spend his vacation at an upscale resort in America. When a fashionable bourgeois intellectual arranges for Homos to lecture on conditions in Altruria, the outcome is earthshaking. Howells hoped his novel would allow readers to confront the inconsistencies and injustices of Gilded Age America. The book even inspired a short-lived Utopian community named Altruria to be founded in Sonoma County, California. Reprinted here as a historical document, the text is supported with a comprehensive introduction, chronology, and questions for consideration. Add this compelling classic to your library today!
A Traveler from Altruria W D Howells Books
The attitudes displayed in Howells' book by the Traveler's host and new acquaintances are completely complementery to much the passes for class and race relations in 2015 in this country. No doubt, Howells was a hopeful utopian, but realized human nature would never change sufficiently for Paradise to be reclaimed.Most surprising of all, Howells style as not as stilted-not stilted at all-as I anticipated when first opening the book. A wonderful read. Just sorry I didn't read it when if was assigned in. History course in college. I wouldn't have to wait 50+ years to read this marvelous book, and I wouldn't have flunked the course for failing to be able to answer questions on the final exam based on the book.
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A Traveler from Altruria W D Howells Books Reviews
I really enjoyed this book although I thought at the beginning that it was really going to be dreary. I actually read it in a class taught by the editor of the book, David Levy. His insights during class made the book more interesting to me and I ended up really liking it. The utopia that it presents is unusual and quite unlike any I have encountered in any other piece of literature. The end of the novel does seem to kind of go off track into a seeminly endless socialist rambling, but overall the book is very good. Seeing our society from the Altrurian's point of view was kind of jolt and made me look at many things differently. Overall, I would recommend highly recommend this novel.
It was somewhat interesting but not a book I couldn't put down. It DID make me think a bit more about my politics!
Although this isn't considered one of Howells' better novels, it's one of my personal favorites. Towards the end of his career, this "dean" of American letters became increasingly concerned with political issues. In particular, he began to align himself, to an extent, with the socialist movement. He never became a full-blown socialist, but he did appreciate their philosophy and understand the limitations of our American democracy. As a result of this growing interest, Howells' fiction turned from socio-cultural concerns to matters of politics. A Traveler from Altruria is a fine example of this change in subject matter. Despite the fact that many critics have interpreted this ostensibly utopian novel as a blind--and rather naive--call to socialism, I heartily disagree. In fact, I contend that Howells was self-consciously and ironically questioning the socialist movement and the utopian tradition. Howells' underappreciated effort is concise, witty and sophisticated. I recommend it to all fans of American literature and to all students of political science. The Bedford edition is exquisitely packaged and shrewdly conceptualized. The introduction, appendices, and other ancillary materials make for a thorough and savvy document.
Somewhat interesting historical piece for a lover of utopian literature, but this one is pretty tame. Nothing surprising, but it does, unfortunately, speak to the world we live in still, to a great extent. I read and passed it on to the lilbrary sale.
The attitudes displayed in Howells' book by the Traveler's host and new acquaintances are completely complementery to much the passes for class and race relations in 2015 in this country. No doubt, Howells was a hopeful utopian, but realized human nature would never change sufficiently for Paradise to be reclaimed.
Most surprising of all, Howells style as not as stilted-not stilted at all-as I anticipated when first opening the book. A wonderful read. Just sorry I didn't read it when if was assigned in. History course in college. I wouldn't have to wait 50+ years to read this marvelous book, and I wouldn't have flunked the course for failing to be able to answer questions on the final exam based on the book.
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