Book Description

The utopian novel L'An deux mille quatre cent quarante. R�ve s'il en fut jamais by the French author Louis-S�bastien Mercier (1740-1814) was the first imaginary portrayal of an ideal society projected into the remote future. It reveals a vision of twenty-fifth century Paris, and a world transformed into a community of general happiness, well-being and progress. In searching for answers for the problem of evil and the conditions of happiness on earth in his contemporary society, Mercier's utopia also offers a generally valid analysis concerning the means and aims of a happy life. On the other hand, the present study indicates that Mercier's vision of the "best of possible worlds" also reveals a great deal about the reasons why the prevailing eighteenth-century conception of happiness, founded on the Enlightenment ideal of rational control, already contained the seeds of its own destruction. This investigation by Riikka Forsstr�m sheds light on Mercier's utopian vision both as critical mirror image analysing its own society, and as an exploration of possible futures. In his utopia, Mercier deals with a wide range of subjects, from the needfulness of political reforms, and economic theories, to the collision of a spiritual with a more secular- scientific world view, and even addresses women's position in society. He makes us reflect on the limits of the possible and how the possibilities could be transformed as part of a living culture.