The City of the Sun
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| - | ====Fiction as a new experimental field, 1700–1800==== | ||
| - | :''[[Reflections on the Novel]]'' | ||
| - | The new 18th-century status of the novel as an object of debate is particularly manifest in special development of philosophical and experimental novels. | ||
| - | Philosophical fiction was not exactly new. [[Plato]]'s dialogues were embedded in fictional narratives. [[Utopia]]s had added to this production with works from [[Thomas More]]'s ''[[Utopia (book)|Utopia]]'' (1516) to [[Tommaso Campanella]]'s ''[[The City of the Sun|City of the Sun]]'' (1602). Works such as these had not been read as novels or romances but as philosophical texts. The 1740s saw new editions of More's work under the title that created the tradition: ''Utopia: or the happy republic; a philosophical romance'' (1743). | + | '''''The City of the Sun''''' ({{lang-it|La città del Sole}}; {{lang-la|Civitas Solis}}) is a philosophical work by the Italian [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] philosopher [[Tommaso Campanella]]. It is an important early [[utopia]]n work. |
| - | [[Voltaire]] utilised the romance to write philosophy with his ''[[Micromégas|Micromegas: a comic romance. Being a severe satire upon the philosophy, ignorance, and self-conceit of mankind]]'' (1752, English 1753). His ''[[Zadig]]'' (1747) and ''[[Candide]]'' (1759) became central texts of the French [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] and of the modern novel. [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] bridged the genres with his less fictional ''[[Emile: or, On Education]]'' (1762) and his far more romantic ''[[Julie, or the New Heloise]]'' (1761). It made sense to publish these works as romances or novels, works of fiction, only because prose fiction had become an object of public discussion. The public reception provided by the new market of journals was both freer and wider than the discussion in journals of philosophy would have been. It had become attractive to step into the realm of fiction in order to provide matter for the ongoing debates. | + | The work was written in [[Italian language|Italian]] in 1602, shortly after Campanella's imprisonment for [[heresy]] and [[sedition]]. A [[Latin]] version was written in 1613–1614 and published in [[Frankfurt]] in 1623. |
| - | The genre's new understanding of itself resulted in the first [[metafiction]]al experiment, pressing against its limitations. [[Laurence Sterne]]’s ''[[The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman]]'' (1759-1767) rejected continuous narration. It expanded the author-reader communication from the preface into the plot itself—''Tristram Shandy'' develops as a conversation between the narrative voice and his audience. Besides narrative experiments, there were visual experiments: a marbled page, a black page to express particular sorrow, a page of little lines to visualize the plot lines of the book one was reading. [[Jonathan Swift]]'s ''[[A Tale of a Tub]]'' (1704) is an early precursor in this field—a work that employs visual elements with similar ambition—yet hardly a text in the tradition of the original novel or its rival the romance. | + | ''The City of the Sun'' is presented as a [[dialogue]] between "a Grandmaster of the [[Knights Hospitaller]] and a [[Genoa|Genoese]] Sea-Captain". Inspired by [[Plato's Republic|Plato's ''Republic'']] and the description of [[Atlantis]] in ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', it describes a [[theocracy|theocratic]] society where goods, women and children are held in common. It also resembles the City of [[Adocentyn]] in the ''[[Picatrix]]'', an Arabic [[grimoire]] of astrological magic. In the final part of the work, Campanella prophesies — in the veiled language of astrology — that the [[List of Spanish monarchs|Spanish kings]], in alliance with the [[Pope]], are destined to be the instruments of a Divine Plan: the final victory of the True Faith and its diffusion in the whole world. While one could argue that Campanella was simply thinking of the conquest of the [[New World]], it seems that this prophecy should be interpreted in the light of a work written shortly before ''The City of the Sun'', ''The Monarchy in Spain'', in which Campanella exposes his vision of a unified, peaceful world governed by a theocratic monarchy. |
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The City of the Sun (Template:Lang-it; Template:Lang-la) is a philosophical work by the Italian Dominican philosopher Tommaso Campanella. It is an important early utopian work.
The work was written in Italian in 1602, shortly after Campanella's imprisonment for heresy and sedition. A Latin version was written in 1613–1614 and published in Frankfurt in 1623.
The City of the Sun is presented as a dialogue between "a Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller and a Genoese Sea-Captain". Inspired by Plato's Republic and the description of Atlantis in Timaeus, it describes a theocratic society where goods, women and children are held in common. It also resembles the City of Adocentyn in the Picatrix, an Arabic grimoire of astrological magic. In the final part of the work, Campanella prophesies — in the veiled language of astrology — that the Spanish kings, in alliance with the Pope, are destined to be the instruments of a Divine Plan: the final victory of the True Faith and its diffusion in the whole world. While one could argue that Campanella was simply thinking of the conquest of the New World, it seems that this prophecy should be interpreted in the light of a work written shortly before The City of the Sun, The Monarchy in Spain, in which Campanella exposes his vision of a unified, peaceful world governed by a theocratic monarchy.
