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Novels & StoriesErewhon; Or, Over the RangeSamuel ButlerErewhon; Or, Over the Range

Erewhon; Or, Over the Range

Samuel Butler

Novels & StoriesEnglish
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A young man looking for land to farm in a remote colony crosses an unexplored mountain range and discovers the hidden country of Erewhon, 'nowhere' spelled…

Catalogue details

Author
Samuel Butler
Category
Novels & Stories
Language
English
Source
Project Gutenberg

About this book

A young man looking for land to farm in a remote colony crosses an unexplored mountain range and discovers the hidden country of Erewhon, 'nowhere' spelled almost backwards. There everything is upside down: illness is punished as a crime, while crime is treated with sympathy as a sickness; the 'Musical Banks' issue a currency nobody really uses; the Colleges of Unreason teach 'hypothetics'; and all machines were destroyed centuries ago, for fear that they would evolve and enslave humanity.

Context and significance

Samuel Butler (1835–1902), who had been a sheep farmer in New Zealand, published the satire anonymously in 1872. Its 'Book of the Machines', which applies Darwin's theory of evolution to machines, is still quoted in debates about artificial intelligence. For more in the same vein, read Butler's novel The Way of All Flesh, and compare Gulliver's Travels.

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