Historical and cultural context of forming representations about freedom in English classical utopia

Andreev G.

There are a few factors which have an influence on the final and completed form of fiction. The degree of each of them could be more or less important. As for utopia there are three factors which have the most important role: the features of the genre, context, personal preferences and views of the author. All of them have a valuable impact on the concept of freedom presented in each author’s utopia. In this article there is an attempt to examine and describe the degree of impact of each of these factors in the formation of the ideas about the concept of freedom in English classical utopia. Cultural context is the most powerful reason to distinguish English utopian tradition from all others, that's why the consideration of it is the biggest part of this research. The factor of the genre is also counted and examined, but there are not enough opportunities to consider the factor of preferences because of the generalizing character of this research, the main purpose of which is not concerned with making out an issue about each author and its utopia. The main reason of conducting this research is the finding the role of the historical context in the formation of the concept of freedom in English classical utopia.

Keywords:utopia, freedom, context, More, Simmel.