Apart from among literary studies majors, hippies, and Silicon Valley gurus, “utopia” suffers ill repute. But, fundamentally, an attempt at introducing a fraught topic - utopia - by illustrating some of its typical associations: an ideal society an impossible social formation a fantastical narrative of a perfected otherworld hedonic superabundance wishful thinking. The purpose of this flight of fancy? For one, an exercise in utopian imagination, as well as indulging an appetite for utopian and fantastic bricolage: Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Fourier’s Théorie des quatre mouvements, Bulwer-Lytton’s The Coming Race, Campanella’s The City of the Sun, elements of ecologically aware sci-fi, perhaps a pinch of feudal romanticism, and whatever other meanings and texts acute readers may discern.
You observe a procession fly out in an orderly fashion, with what appears to be a newly elected leader at its tail, clad in ruby red. A moment later, the roof slowly lifts into the air, and a wave of angelic tones washes over you. The emerald dome, which you suspect is also a giant solar panel, judging from the cell-like patterns coating its surface, glitters with sunlight. Suddenly, your attention is drawn to the most wonderful music you’ve ever heard emanating from the Byzantine structure in the middle. You realize that the walls themselves are interlinked into a gigantic, pneumatic construct that keeps the city afloat in the sky. Hydraulic devices labor away in the canals, producing the energy that keeps the walls rotating. You scan the cityscape again and recognize further details. Focusing your eyes, you recognize images of plants, minerals, planets, mechanical gadgets, musical notes, poetic verses - each wall dedicated to a specific area of learning.
You look around and notice children walking on long, Victorian-style balconies extending from the rotating walls, studying the forms decorating their sides with curious intensity. Fountains spray the liquid into the air and a moment later the taste of lemonade fills your mouth. From time to time, they scoop up a portion from the canal and drink it. On top of the wall now, you see people with what appear to be artificial wings hovering lazily over golden canals flowing between the walls. You reach the outermost wall of the city and spot a spiral staircase leading to its top. The clouds part and you recognize seven walls ordered into concentric circles rotating around an emerald dome in the middle. At a certain point the road starts rising into the sky toward what resembles a city perched in the clouds. You emerge into a clearing and a yellow brick road appears in front of you.
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