Thursday, March 19, 2009
Victorian Society Satire

Samuel Butler anonymously published his novel "Erewhon" in 1872. It's a book I read and finished last month but didn't write about it because I really just didn't get it, and therefore I didn't like it. But what the hey, I write about everything else, so here goes nothing.

Erewhon initially comes off as a Utopian land, but as you delve further into the chapters you realize it's not a utopia at all. Which of course makes sense since the world will most likely never see a Utopian society. And to think that the Victorian culture could conceive it self to be one does make the perfect theme behind this satire.
In fact, things are so backwards in this society that Samuel Butler put the book on hold from being published and then did so anonymously because he feared retribution.

In the book the criminals are helped and treated as though they can be fixed by people Butler terms as "straighteners." But then those people who truly do have a physical or mental condition are treated as though there is no helping them and they are actually punished.

It is awfully interesting to read this, because in today's American society it very often feels that criminals receive more assistance than good citizens who are suffering.

My biggest complain of this novel, which at many times did keep my interest, was that there was too much author interjection and presumptions. He would write exactly what he feared his audience might think of something he said. I didn't like that, I would have rather he kept those comments to himself or perhaps included them all in a commentary at the end.

The book is poorly organized and in that respect it is difficult to follow because you'll finish one chapter and then three chapters later you'll think you're reading the same thing.

And so there you have my few thoughts on "Erewhon".

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