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Paying “Utopia” a Subversive Fidelity; or, An Affective Trip to Anarres

Lookup NU author(s): Dr David Bell

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Abstract

This article pays “subversive fidelity” to utopia by rethinking what might be meant by the “good,” “no,” and “place” and how they might be brought together in an ambiguous but productive consistency. Specifically, it does this by drawing on Deleuze’s reading of Spinoza’s ethics, Sara Ahmed’s concept of the “affect alien,” and Doreen Massey’s understanding of place. It then applies and develops the theoretical approach through a reading of Anarres, as described in Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel The Dispossessed. While the theory of utopia produced is intended normatively, the article also shows how it can be used as a methodology for the reading of specific places, as well as how it can be used alongside other utopian studies methods to read utopian texts.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Bell DM

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Utopian Studies

Year: 2016

Volume: 27

Issue: 2

Pages: 129-151

Print publication date: 27/06/2016

Online publication date: 21/06/2016

Acceptance date: 13/01/2016

Date deposited: 08/11/2016

ISSN (print): 1045-991X

ISSN (electronic): 2154-9648

Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press

URL: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/625712

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