ABSTRACT
Ernst Bloch’s work is often quoted for the development of many concepts still used in utopian theory, such as, ‘the utopian impulse’ and ‘concrete utopia’. In terms of the value of the imagination in both romanticism and utopia, what seems to a central intersection is the potential to draw from the past or present in order to project a desirable future. In terms of the importance of imagination, not only in aesthetic, but also in ethical and political thought. Taking another cue from literary forms, many dystopian narratives choose open-ended conclusions to signify possibility of hope and even optimism. This resistance to closure again, seems to intersect with a Romantic mode which points to future possibility. Pessimism is susceptible to inaction, whereas the belief in change which permeates both Romantic and Utopian intellectual history is what propels the desire for a different, better world.
