Thomas More’s seminal story about the Commonwealth of Utopia was not a political or philosophic statement, a program for social progress or even the description of a perfect, and therefore unattainable, form of society in the author’s mind. Such an aim amounted to heresy in the eyes of the Catholic Church, leading Thomas More to write, "Tyndale changed in his translation the common known words to the intent to Aided by the relatively recent appearance of the printing press in England in 1476, however, English scholar William Tyndale translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek texts and, along with Martin Luther, advocated for widespread dissemination of scripture in vernacular languages. John Wycliffe translated the Vulgate Bible into English in the fourteenth century, but his translation did not find a widespread audience. Translation played a very prominent role in the Reformation. These decisions reflect unintentional consequences for More's text, and this aspect of its history and reception is what has kept Utopia an important text in higher education and part of the Western literary canon. I argue that since the 1556 translation by Ralph Robynson, More's text has elicited a subjective reading experience that has resulted in subjective translation decisions. In addition, I will look at a 1947 edition compiled by Mildred Campbell to demonstrate how she used gendered language in a manner similar to Hexter, Adams, and Baker-Smith. Indeed, even Robert Adams's relatively recent translation for the popular Norton edition contrasts greatly with Baker-Smith's new Penguin translation. ![]() ![]() Hexter's translation for the Yale edition, the first modern edition and still an important version of the text, and explore subsequent translations of key Latin passages in the original. In this essay I will compare several translations of More's Utopia to demonstrate the way in which English translations have changed over time. For instance, the new Penguin Classics edition of More's Utopia, translated and edited by luminary More scholar Dominic Baker-Smith, largely stays close to the spirit of earlier twentieth-century translations, but some of Baker-Smith's translation decisions reflect the contemporary political landscape of academia. Originally printed in Latin in 1516, new translations appear regularly, and frequently these translations reflect values altered by the ever-changing Western political climate. This is the 17th century translation by Gilbert Burnet, edited in the 19th century by Henry Morley.Thomas More's Utopia continues to elicit scholarly interest and has retained a firm place in the literary canon and British literature survey courses. Enjoy listening to this story about a country that really is too good to be true. This book gave the word 'utopia' the meaning of a perfect society, while the Greek word actually means ‘no place’. This country uses gold for chamber pots and prison chains, pearls and diamonds for children’s playthings, and requires that a man and a woman see each other exactly as they are, naked, before getting married. It is a country with an ‘ideal’ form of communism, in which everything really does belong to everybody, everyone does the work they want to, and everyone is alright with that. This book is all about the fictional country called Utopia. ![]() Translated by Gilbert Burnet (1643 - 1715) Download cover art Download CD case insert Utopia (Burnet translation)
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