Islandia

1942 Wright, Austin Tappan (1883-1931). Islandia. New York: Farrar & Rinehart. The manuscript of the novel is in the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Rpt. New York: New American Library, 1970; New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1971; and Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press/London: Duckworth Press, 2001 with an “Introduction” by John Silbersack (v-x). A selection was rpt. as “The Story of Alwina.” Elsewhere. Ed. Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold (New York: Ace Books, 1981), 164-86. Additional material by Wright was summarized by Basil Davenport (1905-66), An Introduction to Islandia: its history, customs, laws, language, and geography as prepared by Basil Davenport from “Islandia: History and Description” by Jean Perrier, first French Consul to Islandia, and translated by John Lang, first American Consul. With Maps drawn by John Lang. Toronto, ON, Canada: Farrar and Rinehart, 1942, which includes a bibliography, population statistics, notes on the climate, and a glossary created by Wright. DLC, MoU-St, PSt

One of the most comprehensive eutopias ever written. The eutopia focuses on family, home, and place. Islandians are country dwellers who live on one farm for generations and only temporarily move to cities. No rich or poor even though there are aristocrats and denerir, who work on the land but have absolute right in both law and custom, which is more important than law in Islandia, to their land and homes. Considerable detail on the different expressions of love, with sexual love the least important. See also 1969, 1979, and 1982 Saxton.