評(píng)論
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American Utopianism
美式烏托邦
Short-lived, much loved
短命的狂熱
How American idealists withdrew from the mainstream to create their own paradise
美國(guó)理想主義者退避俗世，自建天堂。
UTOPIANISM in politics gets a bad press. The case against the grand-scale, state-directed kind is well known and overwhelming. Utopia, the perfect society, is unattainable, for there is no such thing. Remaking society in pursuit of an illusion not only fails, it leads swiftly to mass murder and moral ruin. So recent history grimly attests.
烏托邦主義在政治上不是個(gè)好詞，現(xiàn)在的主流觀點(diǎn)是反對(duì)大規(guī)模、政府主導(dǎo)的事物。烏托邦這個(gè)完美的社會(huì)，則是可望不可及的海市蜃樓。強(qiáng)行讓社會(huì)追求一個(gè)虛無(wú)縹緲的幻覺不只會(huì)以失敗告終，也會(huì)很快走向大規(guī)模屠殺和道德崩潰，這已經(jīng)被近代歷史證實(shí)了。
Although true, that is just half the story. Not all modern Utopians aim to seize the state in order to cudgel the rest of the world back to paradise. Plenty of gentler ones want no more than to withdraw from the mainstream and create their own micro-paradise with a few like-minded idealists. Small experiments in collective living swept America, for example, early in the 19th century and again late in the 20th.
盡管這是事實(shí)，但并不全面。并不是所有的現(xiàn)代烏托邦都致力于奪取政權(quán)，并用暴力把世界改造成伊甸園。很多溫和派烏托邦主義者充其量只希望退隱俗世，和一群志同道合者建造一個(gè)屬于自己的微型天堂。從19世紀(jì)初到20世紀(jì)末，美國(guó)各地都有這些群居者的身影。
Most failed or fell short. None lasted. All were laughed at. Yet in this intelligent, sympathetic history, Chris Jennings makes a good case for remembering them well. Politics stultifies, he thinks, when people stop dreaming up alternative ways of life and putting them to small-scale test.
這種實(shí)踐大都是失敗的或者受人嘲笑。 Chris Jennings在他的書《現(xiàn)世天堂：美國(guó)烏托邦發(fā)展史》（《Paradise Now: The Story of American Utopianism.》）中記錄了這段凝聚著前人智慧的而又令人同情的歷史。他認(rèn)為，如果人們停止對(duì)于另一種生活方式的夢(mèng)想并不再付諸于實(shí)踐，則是政治的停滯。
Though with occasional glances forward, Mr Jennings focuses largely on the 19th century. At least 100 experimental communes sprang up across the young American republic in the mid-1800s. Mr Jennings writes about five exemplary communities: the devout Shakers, Robert Owen's New Harmony, the Fourierist collective at Brook Farm, Massachusetts, the Icarians at Nauvoo, Illinois, inspired by a French proto-communist, Etienne Cabet, and the Oneida Community in New York state practising “Bible communism” and “complex marriage”.
盡管書中偶爾會(huì)展望未來(lái)，Jennings把大部分筆墨放在了19世紀(jì)。19世紀(jì)中期，至少有100個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)性的公社在年輕的美利堅(jiān)合眾國(guó)中，如雨后春筍般萌芽般誕生。Jennings描述了其中5個(gè)典型的社區(qū)：虔誠(chéng)的震教徒（一個(gè)基督教的分支教派——譯者注），羅伯特·歐文的新和諧村，傅里葉空想社會(huì)主義者在布魯克農(nóng)場(chǎng)和馬薩諸塞州的公社，繼承了法國(guó)共產(chǎn)主義者Etienne Cabet的伊卡洛斯派在納府和伊利諾伊的公社，以及紐約的奧奈達(dá)社區(qū)（實(shí)踐了“圣經(jīng)共產(chǎn)主義”和“群婚”模式）。
The Shakers' founder was a Manchester Quaker, Ann Lee, a devout mother worn out by bearing dead or dying children. In 1774 she left for the New World, determined to forswear sex and create a following to share her belief. An optimistic faith in human betterment, hard work and a reputation for honest trading helped the Shakers thrive. At their peak in the early 19th century, they had perhaps 5,000 members scattered in some 20 villages across eight states. They counselled celibacy, to spare women the dangers of child-bearing, made spare, slim furniture, now treasured in museums, and practised a wild, shaking dance that was taken as a sign of benign possession by the Holy Spirit.
震教徒派創(chuàng)始人是一位名叫Ann Lee的曼徹斯特貴格會(huì)教徒，她虔誠(chéng)卻飽受喪子之痛。1774年，她決定開創(chuàng)一個(gè)新世界，她誓言禁欲并找到了志同道合的信徒。對(duì)于人類進(jìn)步的樂觀信心、努力工作、以及誠(chéng)實(shí)交易使得震教徒派得以發(fā)展壯大。到了19世紀(jì)早期，教派發(fā)展到了鼎盛時(shí)期，在美國(guó)8個(gè)州的20個(gè)村子里散布著約5000名信徒。他們提倡獨(dú)身禁欲，向婦女勸導(dǎo)生孩子的危險(xiǎn)，制作現(xiàn)已被收藏于博物館的細(xì)長(zhǎng)家具，并跳一種狂野而顫抖的舞蹈，這被看作是圣靈良性附身的征兆。
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