Storm Cloud Library

Fictions of the Future

In the nineteenth century, some creative writers were apprehensive about the changes industrialization wrought on everyday life. They wrote fictions that imagined possible futures that might result from emerging technologies. Some of these speculative fictions were utopian, others dystopian. You can see early and first editions of these books on view in the exhibition. Many of these have been digitized and are available to read for free on Project Gutenberg.

• Samuel Butler, Erewhon; Or, Over the Range, 1872
  The name of the realm in which the novel is set, Erewhon, is an anagram for “nowhere.” The novel begins as an adventure story, using the convention of travel in an imaginary country. To the story’s narrator, Erewhon at first seems utopian in its disregard for money—which lends status but has no purchasing value—and machines—which have been outlawed as dangerous competitors in the struggle for existence. Erewhon has also declared disease a crime for which the sick are imprisoned, and crime is considered a disease for which criminals are sent to the hospital. As the unnamed narrator further examines the institutions of Erewhon, his illusions of utopia and eternal progress are stripped away. (britannica.com) 

• Richard Jefferies, After London; Or, Wild England, 1885
   After some sudden and unspecified catastrophe has depopulated England, the countryside reverts to nature, and the few survivors to a quasi-medieval way of life. Beginning with a loving description of nature reclaiming England —fields becoming overrun by forest, domesticated animals running wild, roads and towns becoming overgrown, the hated London reverting to lake and poisonous swampland—the rest of the story is an adventure set many years later in the wild landscape. (google.com/books)

• W. H. Hudson, A Crystal Age, 1887
  The narrator, Smith, regains consciousness buried under earth and entangled in plant roots. Upon extricating himself, he encounters a peculiar funeral procession and is struck by the beauty of a grieving girl named Yoletta. Integrating into their utopian society, he struggles with cultural misunderstandings and unrequited love for Yoletta, who is actually much older than she appears. ()