E X T E N S I O N UTOPIAS Utopias are imaginary worlds. the term utopia comes from the Greek ou (not) and topos (place), and means no place , nowhere . in literature, it is used to refer to a better world. in this case, it is commonly called a eutopia (from the Greek eu, good ), a place where everything is good and society is perfect. on the contrary, when a negative world is described, it is generally called a dystopia. Dystopian novels describe imaginary, dreadful1 worlds where the negative aspects of society have led to catastrophic consequences. many authors have written books describing utopian societies. the first famous example of a utopian book was Thomas More s Utopia, written in 1516. He imagined a complex, self-contained2 world set on an island, in which communities shared3 a common culture and way of life. in actual fact, Utopia is more like a totalitarian state than a land of freedom and happiness. the idea of writing books about unreal worlds was not new to thomas more. indeed, he was inspired by Plato s Republic (c. 380 Bc), which describes an ideal society. Both works inspired Jonathan Swift s Gulliver s Travels (1726) though his attitude towards utopia is much more skeptical and his intention satirical.the novel follows the main character s journey to four fantastic countries: lilliput, a land of little people, Brobdingnag, a land of giants, laputa, a flying island inhabited by scientists and philosophers, and the land of the Houyhnhnms (intelligent horses) and the yahoos (animal-like humans). 3. shared: had something at the same time as somebody else. 1. dreadful: very bad, terrible. 2. self-contained: autonomous. Thomas More Jonathan Swift 50