Thomas More's Magician: A Novel Account of Utopia in Mexico

Thomas More's Magician: A Novel Account of Utopia in Mexico

by TobyGreen (Author)

Synopsis

In September 1532, eleven years after the Spanish conquest, Mexico is in meltdown. As the conquistadors discover an earthly paradise, its peoples and their Gods are destroyed. This is a time of greed, uncertainty - and idealism. Despairing at his surroundings, Vasco de Quiroga - a new member of the Spanish ruling council - forges a commune on Mexico City's outskirts. Indigenous peoples flock there, and soon a new society exists, complete with a welfare system and a hospital. What distinguishes Quiroga's project is that he uses Thomas More's recently published book, Utopia, as his blueprint. As Toby Green researches Quiroga's biography in Spain and Mexico, he begins to sense an eerie resonance between Quiroga's age and our own. Based on archival research, and rich with vivid reconstructions of 16th-century Spain and Mexico, the narrative becomes a biography not only of Quiroga, but also of utopia as both an idea and a literary form.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Edition: New
Publisher: Phoenix
Published: 04 Aug 2005

ISBN 10: 0753819783
ISBN 13: 9780753819784
Book Overview: Fantastic blend of philosophy and history 'A vivid account of this visionary explorer...Thoughtful and imaginative, Green has borrowed the structure of the utopian novel to discuss what he sees as the key issue: can utopianism work today' Sunday Times 'A fascinating, moving story...travelling in Quiroga's footsteps, [Green] beautifully describes the austere landscapes of Spain and Mexico's water-dripping, flower-twined lushness, a paraside about to be destroyed' Ann Wroe, Daily Telegraph '[Green] resurrects the undeservedly forgotten story of an honourable, decent and obstinate man's struggle to prove that utopia could thrive in the real world as well as in the imagination' Books Quarterly 'A fusion of satire, history and philosophical inquiry' Independent

Media Reviews
A fascinating account of one man s attempt to create a real-life Utopia.
Author Bio
Toby Green, 30, graduated from Cambridge University in 1996, having obtained a First in Philosophy. He is a Green Party councillor for Stroud District Council. This is his third book.