ABSTRACT
Realistic and symbolical utopian journeys are both distinct.from the plainly fantastic ones. In the last the extraordinary translation into utopia is just an obvious means to an end, leaving not a moment’s doubt about the impossibility of the account. These fantasies are amusingly incredible, without any symbolical meaning shaping the nature of the fantastic distortion. Here we are in the realm of sheer magic, the world of the Arabian Nights. On the whole this type of journey is far less frequent than the realistic or symbolical one. The nature of the journey and the nature of utopia generally correspond, sometimes very intimately, sometimes less so. But a complete divorce can hardly be imagined. A hard, ‘practical’ utopia and a magical introduction do not seem to agree very well, for the persuasiveness of the utopian society will be imperilled by admitting an element of plain magic. One of the few magical journeys to a constructive utopia can be found in Robert Blatchford’s The Sorcery Shop. Here a wizard transports two London clubmen to a socialist utopia on the lines of News from Nowhere. ‘If the introduction is sheer fantasy, why not the rest?’ the sceptical reader may ask. Possibly a puzzling pseudo-scientific introduction might force him to admit that reality is not quite as plain as a pikestaff: thus it might prepare him to take a more tolerant attitude to the proposed utopian scheme.
