![]() It poses as history but it is also a fictional adventure-story. The full title of the work attests to this: "On the best form of a Commonwealth and on the New Island of Utopia: a Truly Precious Book No Less Profitable than Delightful by the most Distinguished and Learned Gentleman Thomas More, Citizen and Undersheriff of the Illustrious City of London." This book includes several things: it presents philosophy as well as a travel narrative about a foreign place. Almost immediately, Utopia presents itself as a book whose form is different form other works. Throughout Utopia, More alludes to the scholarly and traditional literature of his period, also referencing earlier Greek and Latin works. More wonders whether it will be worthwhile in the end. Despite the good qualities of the work, Utopia will still be exposed to the unnecessarily fierce commentary of critics. More concludes his letter expressing his hesitation to publish the work. He intends to ask the Pope to be made the Bishop of the Utopians. There are a few individuals already prepared to go to Utopia including a theologian who would like to see the island and meet its inhabitants. Laughably, there is one major question that does need to be addressed rather urgently: More does not remember "in what part of that New World Utopia is located." The author confides that he is rather embarrassed "not to know in which ocean the island lies," especially since he has devoted so much time and energy to recounting less significant details. More hopes that Giles might remember the actual dimensions or perhaps for this and a few other questions, Giles might even make contact with Raphael Hythloday. More is uncertain about a few small details, for example, the span of a bridge that crosses the Utopian river of Anyder. As a result, More has hardly any time left for himself. More explains that his work has kept him very busy and when he comes home very later he must devote time to his family. In his letter, More apologizes for taking such a long time to send the manuscript to Giles‹nearly a year, when it was expected to take only six weeks. In this regard, Peter Giles can be of use for he was the one who first introduced More to Hythloday. More has simply recorded what he has heard, striving to be as accurate as possible. ![]() More recalls his meeting with Raphael Hythloday, for it is Raphael who relayed the story of Utopia to More. The prefatory letter concerns the printing and editing of the manuscript and also tells a story of how More first learned of the Utopians. More's friend, Peter Giles, was a corrector at a printing press and a clerk of the city of Antwerp. Thomas More was the Under-sheriff of the City of London, in the service of King Henry VIII. The two poems, written by Utopians, describe Utopia as an ideal state. The book begins with a short six-line poem, followed by a four-line poem and a letter of greetings from Thomas More, the author, to his friend Peter Giles.
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