Utopia, Imagination, and a Crisis of Culture: Previewing the Future through Fiction

Abstract

The future of society, like any other structure, is built piece by piece. Whether conscious of it or not, the ability of each person to think reflexively about the past today lays the foundations for tomorrow. This is certainly evident in the spheres of education and politics, for example, where there are many who are self-aware of their role in “inventing the future.” However, creative practices in literature and imagination are also sites for architects of what is possible for the future. On the micro-level, humanity and society are shaped by the forms of society's collective imaginations: they may be…

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