Imagining Socialism: Aesthetics, Anti-politics, and Literature in Britain, 1817-1918

Imagining Socialism explores a century of socialist writing, thought, and experimentation. It is especially interested in the ways that socialists drew upon the resources of the arts in attempts to create more just, equal, and beautiful societies. This book covers a socialist century between the founding of British socialism by Robert Owen and the adoption of the Labour Party’s first constitution and party program. Along the way, it explores such writers as George Eliot, William Morris, Charles Kingsley, and H. G. Wells. It will be of interest to scholars and students of literature, politics, history, and utopianism.