Neither Black Nor White: The Critical Utopias of Sutton E. Griggs and George S. Schuyler

While Tom Moylan has famously located the origins of the critical utopia—a utopia that is critical both of the status quo and of the traditional utopia itself—in the aftermath of the social turmoil of the 1960s, I argue that the metamorphosis of the genre began even earlier. Like the oppositional mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science-fiction studies 2011-07, Vol.38 (2), p.270-287
Main Author: Pavla Veselá
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African American culture
African American studies
African Americans
Literary criticism
Race
Racism
Science fiction
Science fiction & fantasy
Utopian fiction
Utopian socialism
Utopias
White people
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Summary:While Tom Moylan has famously located the origins of the critical utopia—a utopia that is critical both of the status quo and of the traditional utopia itself—in the aftermath of the social turmoil of the 1960s, I argue that the metamorphosis of the genre began even earlier. Like the oppositional movements that inspired its emergence, the critical utopia has been in the making throughout the twentieth century, particularly in marginal works. This article discusses two such interventions:Imperium in Imperio(1899) by Sutton E. Griggs and George S. Schuyler’sBlack Empire(1936-38). Both these texts, although critical of the status quo, differ from traditional utopias in that they feature an active protagonist and, as in Moylan’s critical utopia, portray imperfect, multiple, and ambiguous “better worlds.” These innovative features, I argue, stem from the authors’ engagement with the utopian genre’s insufficient and problematic treatment of race.
ISSN:0091-7729
2327-6207
DOI:10.5621/sciefictstud.38.2.0270