Émile Souvestre’s Le monde tel qu’il sera en l’an 3000: a reflection of the fears raised by industrial capitalism
Émile Souvestre’s Le monde tel qu’il sera en l’an 3000: a reflection of the fears raised by industrial capitalism
Author(s): Nicolas MarySubject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Political Theory, French Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, Instytut Filologii Romańskiej & Wydawnictwo Werset
Keywords: Émile Souvestre; dystopia; Henri de Saint-Simon; Karl Mannheim
Summary/Abstract: Le monde tel qu’il sera en l’an 3000, written by Émile Souvestre in 1845, is known as the first French dystopian novel. To give his fellow citizens a warning, the author projects into the future, an exacerbated contemporary situation. This journey through time is part of a vast debate that opposes not only utopias and dystopias, but also the social and political sciences. Le monde tel qu’il sera... can thus be understood as a refutation of the ideological constructions which are based on an unshakeable faith in the future. Influenced by Saint-Simon, Souvestre considers that technical progress can lead to the ideal city only if it is combined with moral progress, to which he aims to contribute by demonstrating to his contemporaries the appalling consequences of the providentialism that dominates the mid-19th century.
Journal: Quêtes littéraires
- Issue Year: 2021
- Issue No: 11
- Page Range: 87-98
- Page Count: 12
- Language: French