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Erewhon

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I have just reread Samuel Butler's Erewhon, a book described by Lewis Mumford as having 'a sunny malice'. Personally I don't find anything malicious in this tale. He does stand just about every taken for granted convention of Victorian society (and the world still) on its head, and has great fun doing it, but the end result is to force the reader to think long and hard about much that is usually accepted without thinking.

In Erewhon, criminals are considered to be ill and are 'treated' by 'straightners' who make them well, whereas those who have physical illnesses (or suffer bad luck) are considered criminal and are tried and punished. Thus an embezzler will be treated for his 'illness' and the party who was robbed will be tried in the Court of Misplaced Confidence. The consistency with which Butler carries through with this conceit is impressive and consistently entertaining, and this is only one of the 'curious' conventions of Erewhonian society.

My favorite part of the novel is the section that purports to be a classic text from the College of Unreason, 'The Book of the Machines'. Modeled on Darwin's writings, this text explains how machines are on an evolutionary track that will surpass and then come to dominate their human creators. The detail of the argument is impressive (the discussion of 'vestigial organs' in machines is hysterical and accurate), and no matter how far fetched it must have seemed in 1872 when the book was published, it seems much less a satire and more a serious fear today.

This is a book of great intelligence and wicked humor. As a simultaneous mind stretching exercise and laugh generating experience I can think of few novels of any age that are its peer.

Samuel Butler does a neat balancing act with "Erewhon," a novel that is equal parts fictitious travelogue, philosophical tract, social/political/religious satire, and adventure story complete with a romantic subplot. The protagonist, a young Englishman named Higgs who is unsatisfied with employment prospects in his home country, moves to a distant colonized land where he takes a job as a shepherd. Beyond a mountain range there lie some mysterious lands that he would like to explore, and, setting out one day with a timid guide who later abandons him, he eventually gets to the other side of the peaks and finds himself in an isolated country named Erewhon.

One of the first things Higgs notes is that Erewhon is a few hundred years behind the times technologically. They have no modern mechanical conveniences, and when Higgs is discovered to own a watch, it is confiscated and he is put in prison. Later released and placed into the custody of a rich man named Mr. Nosnibor, Higgs learns all about the bizarre customs and beliefs of the Erewhonians.

In Erewhon, sickness is punishable by law and criminal acts are treated medically by people called "straighteners"; so, stealing a pair of socks is analogous to feeling a bit under the weather. The Erewhon banking system is a facade, as their money is worthless. The Erewhonians believe in an ethereal prenatal world where babies are given the (preferred) option not to be born into the mortal world. Their institutions of higher education, the Colleges of Unreason, teach conformity and resist originality and progress. Most importantly, they condemn technological advancement because of the fear that machines will continue evolving so rapidly that they will eventually develop a consciousness, out-evolve man, and take control of the world. Imagine how the Erewhonians would have despaired over the realization of artificial intelligence!

How have the Erewhonians arrived at all of these beliefs? Higgs concludes that their belief system is a result of gullibility -- they tend to put their faith in anybody who comes up with a convincing argument for whatever agenda he's trying to push. They don't analyze, question, or challenge; they just accept the status quo until somebody with a big mouth (but not necessarily a big brain) decides the status quo needs to be changed. In this way, one man who thinks killing animals is wrong convinces the people to become vegetarians; another man who likes meat convinces the people that killing plants is an even greater sin.

This book has a lot of targets, some not all that obvious, but I think Butler was prophesying a world in which demagoguery takes the place of common sense and reason, a world through which he was satirizing organized religion, sentimental notions of familial sanctity, and the complacency of the Victorian middle class. I've also read "The Way of All Flesh," but I find "Erewhon" to be a better representative of Butler's skewering cynicism and sly humor.

I felt honour-bound to review this Victorian English Book as it surely must have been an inspiration to later authors such as Kafka and Orwell. A 'gulliver-esque' tale is told wherein a traveller chances upon a strange world where the conventional rules of our society are turned upon their head - the ill are sent to prison and criminals are given pity & understanding. Despite the age of the book, it is not a difficult read, and is very underrated (or perhaps just overlooked?)

Following in the tradition of Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels," the English novelist, essayist, and iconoclast Samuel Butler published "Erewhon" privately in 1872. The title is an anagram of "Nowhere," which is the literal translation of the word "Utopia," the title by which Thomas More's 1516 work has commonly become known. "Erewhon" is arguably the first anti-utopian or dystopian novel, anticipating the later and better known works such as Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" and George Orwell's "1984." Whereas More and other utopianists are primarily interested in attacking society's ills and making the world a better place, the anti-utopians engage primarily in either satire of the society in which they live or in making dire predictions about the dismal fate that awaits humanity. Butler is most decidedly in the former category, since he proves in not only "Erewhon" but also his more famous work, the semi-autobiographical novel, "The Way of All Flesh," that his main concern is in attacking the complacency and hypocrisy he saw infecting Victorian society.

Like More's island of Utopia, Butler's Erewhon is a remote kingdom, not to be found on any map, which is discovered by the narrator of the novel (biographers of Butler have assumed it is modeled on a part of New Zealand, which anyone who has viewed the "Lord of the Rings" movies can attest has some spectacular landscapes). Cut off from the rest of the world, the citizens of Erewhon lives according to their own rules and dictates. Butler breaks from the tradition of creating an idealized world that goes back from More to Plato in favor of a more realistic society. In Butler's world there is still money, and both the rich and the poor still exist; there is even a monarchy in charge. It is when we notice strong parallels between Erewhon and the members of Victorian society that we start to see Butler's true purpose.

Hypocrisy is rampant in Erewhom, where citizens think nothing of agreeing with things they do not believe in and their friends know that they are doing so. While the citizens pretend to worship deities that are the personification of lofty human qualities such as love, justice, and hope, they really worship a goddess, Ydrgun, and the Church of England is transformed into the sytem of "Musical Banks." As Butler hits his stride in this novel he creates a topsy-turvy world where illness is treated as a crime (there are no physicians in the country) and criminal behavior, such as theft, are seen as minor weaknesses in character.

Unlike Francis Bacon's utopian work "The New Atlantis," where science was seen as the salvation of humanity that would correct all ills and provide all necessities, Butler's world has outlawed machinery because they might one day become the masters rather than the servants of humanity. Clearly Butler was no more enamored of the Industrial Revolution than he was of Victorian society. In many ways this is the section of "Erewhom" where Butler makes his most cogent arguments. It is also the point where the book's narrator, whose initial attitude of admiration turns to one of surprise, now beocmes one of condemnation as the eccentricities of the citizens of Erewhon are fully revealed. Ultimately, the shortcomings Butler sees in them are the same of which he accuses British society, politics, and religion.

Because Butler is satirizing Victorian society his value to modern readers remains inferior to that of Huxley and Orwell, not to mention Edward Bellamy ("Looking Backward 2000-1887") and Yevgeny Zamyatin ("We"). However, in many ways "Erewhon" is a pivotal novel in the history of utopian literature, not only because of how it follows and breaks away from More's original work and how it sets the stage for what other forgotten writers of dystopian fiction, such as Alexander Bogdanov ("Red Star") and even Jack London ("The Iron Heel"). "Erewhon" remains one of those novels where its historical significance outweighs its literary appeal.

This satire still has all its teeth, despite being over 125 years old. The plot has its protagonist setting out to explore regions that have not yet been explored - i.e., explored by Europeans, i.e. explored by anyone who counts. He finds the remarkable country of Erewhon, with its many odd ways.

Most of those odd ways exaggerate the social ills that Butler saw in his own society. The Erewhonians are overtly fascinated with physical beauty and health, to the point of treating ugliness or disease as criminal offenses. (Our own fascination with looks differs not in kind but in degree, and maybe not such a large degree.) Theft and embezzlement are treated as minor quirks, more like habits to be broken than real crimes. (Well, our business pages read like a police blotter most days.)

Butler skewers the church, by redrawing it as a sort of bank. It's an odd bank, though. Everyone feels they should do business there, but very few do except so they can be seen doing it. It has its own currency, but a currency that can't buy anything and that even its own cashiers treat casually. The Erewhonians all hold it to be the most wonderful of institutions, but hold it in complete disregard in their day to day activities - does this sound at all familiar?

He also takes on vegetarians, an anti-machine sentiment that seems to have gone out of fashion, and especially higher education. That last, or UnReason as he calls it, is his primary target of ridicule. I'll let you read the details for yourself, but the points that Butler attacks are still a part of modern academia. In fact, those malfunctions of purpose have spread out of the universities and into our grade schools.

Butler's worst exaggerations are saved for the protagonist himself, however. The last chapter has the hero escape from Erewhon. He intends to return with a team of missionaries who will convert that nation of heathens, to the greater glory of god and gold. He is quite specific in the armament that will be used to ease the process. He also details how the Erewhon nation would be turned over to slave-holders for enforced religious instruction (and to turn a quick buck). Butler takes on the very worst of The White Man's Burden, and sinks it under its own miserable weight.

This is a brief book, but very worthwhile. It stands well next to Gulliver's Travels as a partner in satire. It also works well against utopias like Shangri-La, by taking the same premises and working them in the opposite way. I recommend this classic to any thinking reader.

//wiredweird

This can be considered probably the first "modern" dystopian novel. It is about a European settler in a faraway colonial country who stumbles into the yet-unexpored mountain range to find the civilisation of Erewhon. These are very strange people who have knowingly cut themselves off from the world. In the tradition of Swift (in terms of the satirical picaresque-like novel), Butler describes the amazing society of Erewhon and the narrator's interations with it.

There are many features but two main ones are anti-technology and ethics. In terms of technology, the Erewhonians have deliberately destroyed all machines over a certain level of development because they see machines as the next evolutionary stage, one that will take over (or even already HAS), albeit in a very different form to intelligent life as we know it. In ethics, they reverse the moral status of crime and disease, with interesting consequences.

Many would find Butler's style overbearing. It does seem like the tell-and-not-show prose of Swift without enough literary merit to make it work. However, it shows that even prose we'd otherwise find ridiculous can be great if part of a novel of ideas. Part of the reason for this being a frustrating read is that we're never sure what side Butler's on - the society of Erewhon is meant to be a satire on the alleged illogic of our own institutions, but then he turns around and satirises the new society as well, as well as his satire of it all etc etc. This however keeps the perspective interesting, whereas if the novel pinned down Butler's opinion easily, we would just disagree and put the book down.

This is a very interesting, thought-provoking and important book. It's not great literature (in fact it grew out of several of Butler's articles and letters to the editor!) but it is an amazing artifact. This is because the things it is about (technology and intelligence, meta-ethics, the rights of people/animals/vegetables, the purpose of the education system) are ones that have been pertinent throughout this century and will continue to be so - which isn't bad for what's quite managably a one day read!

I bought this book expecting strait social satire. It turns out that the first five chapters are more of an adventure story through a jungle, and are really quite boring. If I could re-edit the book today I would cut them out. When we finally enter Erewhon, the story and the satire pick up, and the read is much more pleasant. Then, unexpectedly, about two-thirds of the way into the book, it becomes a very interesting science fiction tale of why the Erewhonians abandoned technology for fear that the machines would evolve into intelligent, conscious, thinking machines able to reproduce and replace man at the top of the evelutionary ladder! I was pleasantly surprised by this because science fiction is my favorite genre, and in all my reading I've never heard of this concept being thought of more than 130 years ago!

If you can get through the first five chapters, I recommend this book.

As all good social satirists do, Samuel Butler turns the world on its ear as he lambastes the hypocrisies of his day, inspired by a close reading of Darwin's THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. The narrator Higgs, discovers a previously unknown country beyond the mountains, in which live an unusual race of people. Jailed as a trespasser, he is tended to by the kindly Yram, who only becomes displeased with him when he says he feels ill. It's shortly after this that we learn that in Erewhon illness is considered a crime which can be severely punished (doctors prescribe flogging instead of medicines). Crime, however, is merely an annoyance that should be tolerated and pitied. These people believe that man goes through life backwards, that the soul is most mature before birth. In school, only useless things are taught. Machines are evil and have been outlawed, while animals, as living things, can never be killed, not even for food. Vegetables have this same inherent right, but since this would mean starvation for the Erewhonians, they have bent the rules a little not to include vegetables (all morality is relative). Higgs finally plans his escape in a hot-air balloon, which he does, with Arowhena, one of the native women, in tow.

The trick in a book like this is to make the satire, the craziness, as believable as possible, while keeping the point of attack sharp and biting. Butler pulls this off admirably. The Darwinian connection or the hypocrisies that existed in Victorian England might be lost on some, but the images of being flogged for an illness or being thought suspicious for having a watch, among others, are hard to forget. Worth checking out.

Samuel Butler's 'Erewhon' is a tale of a simple shepherd who travels too far in his foreign country, (unnamed, but based on New Zealand), only to find another, hidden Country where the sick are imprisoned and the criminal are 'healed'. This previously unknown society is described in detail as to its workings, and seems irrational in its execution.
People you will meet in the travels and travails of this poor lost fellow are of various interesting sorts; including the straighteners, who are doctors for the criminally ill. Our shepherd, visits the musical bank, the College of Unreason, and in detail describes how the people of Erewhon dress and act.
The book was written, in part, to be a criticism of Victorian England, but really stands as a literary classic. Certainly provides amusing entertainment, it is also an interesting look at society in general. Highly recomended for C.S. Lewis and Tolkien fans, this book is indispensable as is the sequel, 'EREWHON REVISITED'.

I decided to read Erewhon because we were going to New Zealand, and I thought it appropriate to have read some its (outdated) literature. (This being said, I still have a couple of others NZ books to read.)

Erewhon is the "second great satire of the nineteeth century" (following Gulliver's Travels). It follows Higgs as he travels to and meets the Erewhonians and their bizarre double-standards and lack of reason. It is meant as satire against Victorian culture. The only problem with this is that much can be lost on an unsuspecting and unknowing reader (I think in particular of The Musical Banks--something that did not resonate with me).

Butler humorously treats religion, education, technology, diet, crowd mentality, criminal justice, currency, health, pregnancy--all skewed through the light (dark?) of a culture that sees logic in a backward way, against typical western mindsets. He crafts grand mythologies and prophets, provenances for the strange ways. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on machines, vegetarianism, and unreason.

I will admit it took me a fair amount to slog through it (my ancient mass market paperback with minute and fading text may partially be to blame).

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Select quotes:

Diet:
-- "What is the offence of a lamb that we should rear it, and tend it, and lull it into security, for the express purpose of killing it? Its offence is the misfortune of being something which society wants to eat, and which cannot defend itself." (81)
-- "Birds, beasts, fishes, have as full a right to live as long as they can unmolested by man, as man has to live unmolested by his neighbours." (166)

Religion:
-- "I have since met with many very godly people who have had a great knowledge of divinity, but no sense of the Divine" (109)
-- "Mention but the word divinity, and our sense of the Divine is clouded." (109)
-- "whenever any one ventured to differ from him, he referred the matter to the unseen power with which he alone was in direct communication, and the unseen power invariably assured him that he was right." (166)

Politics:
-- "A man's business ... is to think as his neighbours do, for Heaven help him if he thinks good what they count bad." (136)

Lifestyle:
-- "you ought by this time to have outgrown the barbarous habits of your ancestors. If, as you believe, you know better than they, you should do better." (167)
-- "there is no genius who is also not a fool, and no fool who is not also a genius" (136)
-- "an art is like a living organism--better dead than dying" (88)

Technology:
-- "How many men at this hour are living in a state of bondage to the machines?" (150)
-- "it is the machines which act upon man and make him man, as much as man who has acted upon and made the machines" (160)