ABSTRACT
In the utopian documentary report as well as in pure fantasy the reality of the fantastic occurrence is accepted as something that cannot be doubted. The tendency to blur the clear outlines of ‘classical’ utopias is characteristic of many modern products, and romantic lyrical notes appear in works where the scientific attitude would seem to leave no room for them, e.g. in Charlotte Haldane’s Man’s World. Just as lyrical romantic note creeps into the predominantly scientific utopia, so allegorical symbolism can be found in a type of forecast like 1984, which on the whole derives its strength from an entirely different, much more factual and realistic presentation. Rex Warner’s and Ruthven Todd’s utopian journeys, for instance, are more muscular versions of Kafka’s strangely grotesque and dark allegories. While being strongly allegorical, novels like Herbert Read’s Green Child, Rex Warner’s Wild Goose Chase, C. S. Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet, or Todd’s Over the Mountain still qualify as utopian.
