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Australia as the Antipodal Utopia

European Imaginations From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century

Daniel Hempel author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Anthem Press

Published:31st Oct '19

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Australia as the Antipodal Utopia cover

A discursive history of Australia’s utopian place in the Western imagination

Australia has a fascinating history of visions. As the antipode to Europe, Australia provided a radically different and uniquely fertile ground for envisioning places, spaces and societies. 'The Antipodal Utopia' evaluates this complex intellectual history by mapping out how Western visions of Australia evolved from antiquity to the modern period.

Australia has a fascinating history of visions. As the antipode to Europe, the continent provided a radically different and uniquely fertile ground for envisioning places, spaces and societies. Australia as the Antipodal Utopia evaluates this complex intellectual history by mapping out how Western visions of Australia evolved from antiquity to the modern period. It argues that because of its antipodal relationship with Europe, Australia is imagined as a particular form of utopia – but since one person’s utopia is, more often than not, another’s dystopia, Australia’s utopian quality is both complex and highly ambiguous. Drawing on the rich field of utopian studies, Australia as the Antipodal Utopia provides an original and insightful study of Australia’s place in the Western imagination.

‘This groundbreaking volume goes further into the origins, prehistory and realisation of Australian utopianism than any before it. Impeccably researched and brilliantly argued, it sets a new and exciting direction in Australian cultural history.’
—Bill Ashcroft FAHA, Professor Emeritus, School of the Arts and Media, University of New South Wales, Australia

ISBN: 9781785271397

Dimensions: 229mm x 153mm x 26mm

Weight: 454g

152 pages