"Utopia is contextual and so is the research into the subject matter. The present work of Central European inquiries into utopia is attached to a cultural spine, that is neither Anglo-American nor too concerned with capitalism. Most of the essays convey a sharp sense of the historical transition of the region over the last century-and-a-half from feudalism and empire to ... Read morefascism, communism, capitalism, and emerging and incipient democracies. Czigányik brackets the essays with an introduction and an afterword. He stresses the importance of a cross-disciplinary approach and - using Hayden White as his theoretical mainstay - gives a fair amount of space to demonstrating the interaction between literary studies and the social sciences."
Extrapolation
"This book is the outcome of a workshop on utopia and ideology organized in Budapest under the auspices of the Central European University’s Institute for Advanced Study in cooperation with the Humanities Initiative in 2014. As the editor states in his Introduction it can also be regarded as a late contribution to the 2016 quincentenary of the publication of Thomas More’s classic Utopia. The articles here are classified into the two main sections of the book entitled 'utopia with a political focus' and 'utopia with a literary focus'. In his concluding remarks, the editor expresses his hope that the book may ultimately lead its readers to maintaining the possibility of human civilization in the next five hundred years.”
Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies
"The editor’s introduction, apart from providing a useful overview of the reception of utopia, considers the problem of the ways in which fiction, an indispensable element of literary utopias, affects their possible ideological impact. This is a highly relevant issue all too often ignored in utopian studies, despite repeated claims to the contrary. 'Utopian Horizons' constitutes an interesting and valuable contribution to utopian studies, the more so as some contributors focus on various manifestations of utopianism in the Hungarian context, virtually unknown to most Western scholars. The book as a whole is highly informative, insightful, and accessible, avoiding the excesses of theoretical and quasi-theoretical jargon, which radically expands its potential readership."
Utopian Studies
"The collection offers much more than an outline of the present state of utopian studies. In fact, the book is a sincere confrontation with the tormenting questions shaping the present-day identity of the area: how to treat the concept of utopia at a point in history where our notions have already been contaminated by the bitter experience of twentieth-century totalitarian regimes? Is utopia capable of having any meaningful social function in a post-Communist epoch, particularly in a Central-European setting? Is there any use to utopias or are we now simply beyond this seriously abused concept? These troubling questions are answered by the volume with important theoretical considerations, in-depth historical contextualisation, and practical textual analyses, eventually confirming the legitimacy of the concept in contemporary literature and thinking. The proposed answers are all the more convincing because they come from two different areas: social sciences and literary studies, fostering a closer collaboration between two branches of utopian studies that far too often fail to engage in proper dialogue."
Slavonica
"What makes this study such a unique reading on the subject of utopia is established in its purpose of reuniting the two perspectives, aiming, as the editor informs us, at 'taking a step further on the road to understanding the complex and controversial nature of utopia'. It brings together innovative theoretical approaches and practical applications of the utopian studies on neglected Central European ideologies and texts, in order to show the complexity of the fascinating genre and its infinite possibility of envisioning, through both literary and political lenses, improved realities." http://caieteleechinox.lett.ubbcluj.ro/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CaieteEchinox40-2021-p.369-405.pdf
Diana Capotă
Echinox
Science Fiction Studies "Utopian Horizons is a recent contribution to the ever-expanding field of utopian studies. It seeks to engage with utopianism specifically from a Central European perspective, rupturing the sometimes hegemonic view of utopian studies as a discipline dominated by the Anglo-American/Western European traditions. I am pleased that work such as this is being produced and I hope that there is more to come, because it is all too easy to fall victim to tunnel vision even as one is acutely aware that there is a world beyond one’s own. I was energized, intrigued, and productively perplexed by many of these chapters. They are extremely well researched and many are eloquently written, which is not always the case with academic writing. This is a wonderful collection and will appeal not only to specialists, but also to readers interested in how to make the world a better place without letting it go to hell."
Science Fiction Studies
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