Thomas Patrick Moylan (born 26 December 1943) is an American-Irish academic, literary and cultural critic, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Language, Literature, Communication and Culture at the University of Limerick . Moylan's academic interests are in utopian studies and critical theory , science fiction studies , cultural studies , American studies , and Irish studies.
51-567: Moylan is best known for his much-cited theory of the 'critical utopia', outlined in Demand the Impossible (1986). Here he argued that the new American science-fictional utopias of the 1970s were 'critical' in the double sense of Enlightenment critique and of the 'critical mass' required to produce an explosion. These texts were distinctive because they rejected utopia as 'blueprint', but nonetheless preserved it as 'dream'. They therefore focused on
102-541: A conscious selectivity about technology. In Ecotopia ecologically compatible high-technology exists alongside postmaterialistic attitudes and lifestyles. As an example, with its emphasis on personal rather than impersonal interaction, Callenbach's Ecotopian society anticipates the development and liberal usage of videoconferencing . Indeed, for all his involvement with print publishing, Callenbach remained quite interested in visual media. Aspects of his book Ecotopia in some ways anticipated C-SPAN — which came into being
153-421: A nature writer , saying that he didn't understand "why so many want to read about the world out-of-doors, when it's more interesting simply to go for a walk into the heart of it." The theme that most interested Abbey was that of the struggle for personal liberty against the totalitarian techno-industrial state, with wilderness being the backdrop in which this struggle took place. Most of Abbey's writing criticizes
204-512: A Time, Please , Abbey expressed his opposition to immigration ("legal or illegal, from any source") into the United States: "(I)t occurs to some of us that perhaps ever-continuing industrial and population growth is not the true road to human happiness, that simple gross quantitative increase of this kind creates only more pain, dislocation, confusion and misery. In which case it might be wise for us as American citizens to consider calling
255-570: A consequence of portal hypertension, commonly due to cirrhosis. Showing his sense of humor, he left a message for anyone who asked about his final words: "No comment." Abbey also left instructions on what to do with his remains: Abbey wanted his body transported in the bed of a pickup truck, and wished to be buried as soon as possible. He did not want to be embalmed or placed in a coffin . Instead, he preferred to be placed inside of an old sleeping bag, and requested that his friends disregard all state laws concerning burial. "I want my body to help fertilize
306-471: A daughter, Susannah "Susie" Mildred Abbey. Ed purchased the family a home in Sabino Canyon , outside of Tucson . Judy died of leukemia on July 11, 1970, an event that crushed Abbey, causing him to go into "bouts of depression and loneliness" for years. It was to Judy that he dedicated his book Black Sun . However, the book was not an autobiographical novel about his relationship with Judy. Rather it
357-611: A few years later — because in the story the daily life of the legislature and some of that of the judicial courts is televised in this fictional society, and televised debates (including technical debates concerning ecological problems) meet a need and desire among citizens. Callenbach was a part of the circle of West Coast technologists, architects, social thinkers, and scientists which included Ursula K. Le Guin , Sim Van der Ryn , Peter Calthorpe , Stewart Brand , Kevin Kelly , J. Baldwin , and John Todd . As with some of these others, he
408-643: A group of noted creative individuals in Northern California, Callenbach's influence beyond the region began with the publication of his utopian novel Ecotopia in 1975. Born into a farming family in Williamsport, Pennsylvania , Callenbach attended the University of Chicago , where he was drawn into the then 'new wave' of serious attention to film as an art form. After six months in Paris at
459-547: A halt to the mass influx of even more millions of hungry, ignorant, unskilled, and culturally-morally-genetically impoverished people. At least until we have brought our own affairs into order. Especially when these uninvited millions bring with them an alien mode of life which—let us be honest about this—is not appealing to the majority of Americans. Why not? Because we prefer democratic government, for one thing; because we still hope for an open, spacious, uncrowded, and beautiful—yes, beautiful!—society, for another. The alternative, in
510-489: A large volume of notes and sketches which later formed the basis of his first non-fiction work, Desert Solitaire . Abbey's second son Aaron was born in 1959, in Albuquerque, New Mexico . In the 1960s Abbey worked as a seasonal park ranger at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument , on the border of Arizona and Mexico. In 1961, the movie version of his second novel, The Brave Cowboy, with screenplay by Dalton Trumbo ,
561-679: A liquor store in Tucson for five cases of beer, and some whiskey to pour on the grave, they drove off into the desert. The men searched for the right spot the entire next day and finally turned down a long rutted road, drove to the end, and began digging. That night they buried Ed and toasted the life of America's prickliest and most outspoken environmentalist. Abbey's body was buried in the Cabeza Prieta Desert in Pima County, Arizona , where "you'll never find it." The friends carved
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#1732782577545612-757: A marker on a nearby stone, reading: EDWARD PAUL ABBEY 1927–1989 No Comment In late March, about 200 friends of Abbey's gathered near the Saguaro National Monument near Tucson and held the wake he requested. A second, much larger wake was held in May, just outside his beloved Arches National Park, with such notables as Terry Tempest Williams and Wendell Berry speaking. Abbey's literary influences included Aldo Leopold , Henry David Thoreau , Gary Snyder , Peter Kropotkin , and A. B. Guthrie, Jr. Although often compared to authors like Thoreau or Aldo Leopold, Abbey did not wish to be known as
663-544: A note to his file which was opened in 1947 when Edward Abbey committed an act of civil disobedience; he posted a letter while in college urging people to rid themselves of their draft cards . Abbey was on the FBI’s watch-list since then and he was watched throughout his life. In 1952 Abbey wrote a letter against the draft in times of peace and again the FBI took notice writing, "Edward Abbey is against war and military." Throughout his life
714-556: A private. His experience in the military left him with a distrust for large institutions and regulations which influenced his writing throughout his career and strengthened his anarchist beliefs. When he returned to the United States, Abbey took advantage of the G.I. Bill to attend the University of New Mexico , where he received a B.A. in philosophy and English in 1951, and a master's degree in philosophy in 1956. During his time in college, Abbey supported himself by working
765-621: A seasonal ranger for the United States National Park Service at Arches National Monument (now a national park), near the town of Moab, Utah . Abbey held the position from April to September each year, during which time he maintained trails, greeted visitors, and collected campground fees. He lived in a house trailer that had been provided to him by the Park Service, as well as in a ramada that he built himself. During his stay at Arches, Abbey accumulated
816-604: A social life based on principles of democracy, mutual understanding, support, and health. Each individual settlement is referred to as jikkenji ('demonstration community for the world'). In 2009, Callenbach was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Freiburg . Freiburg is noted for its renewable energy industry and has been called a "green utopia". He died of cancer on April 16, 2012, in Berkeley, California. ...if you reflect on our change from thoughtless trash-tossing to virtually universal recycling, or from
867-416: A style that's entertaining as well as provocative. It's hard for me to stay serious for more than half a page at a time." Abbey felt that it was the duty of all authors to "speak the truth--especially unpopular truth. Especially truth that offends the powerful, the rich, the well-established, the traditional, the mythic". Abbey's abrasiveness, opposition to anthropocentrism , and outspoken writings made him
918-518: A variety of odd jobs, including being a newspaper reporter and bartending in Taos, New Mexico . During this time he had few male friends but had close relationships with a number of women. Shortly before getting his bachelor's degree, Abbey married his first wife, Jean Schmechal (another UNM student). While an undergraduate, Abbey was the editor of a student newspaper in which he published an article titled "Some Implications of Anarchy". A cover quotation of
969-475: Is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to
1020-456: Is regarded as one of the finest nature narratives in American literature, and has been compared to Aldo Leopold 's A Sand County Almanac and Thoreau's Walden . In it, Abbey vividly describes the physical landscapes of southern Utah and delights in his isolation as a backcountry park ranger, recounting adventures in the nearby canyon country and mountains. He also attacks what he terms
1071-655: The Sorbonne , watching four films a day, he returned to Chicago and earned a master's degree in English and Communications. Callenbach then moved to California. From 1955 to 1991, he was on the staff of the University of California Press ( Berkeley ). A general copywriter for a number of years, he edited the Press's Film Quarterly from 1958 until 1991. He also occasionally taught film courses at U.C. and at San Francisco State University . For many years Callenbach edited
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#17327825775451122-466: The morality of violence , asking the two questions: "To what extent is the current association between anarchism and violence warranted?" and "In so far as the association is a valid one, what arguments have the anarchists presented, explicitly or implicitly, to justify the use of violence?". After receiving his master's degree, Abbey spent 1957 at Stanford University on a Wallace Stegner Creative Writing Fellowship . In 1956 and 1957, Abbey worked as
1173-598: The "industrial tourism" and resulting development in the national parks ("national parking lots"), rails against the Glen Canyon Dam , and comments on various other subjects. In 1973, Abbey married his fourth wife Renee Downing. However, Abbey was always gone so they divorced after four years of marriage. Abbey met his fifth and final wife, Clarke Cartwright in 1978, and married her in 1982. Together they had two children, Rebecca Claire Abbey and Benjamin C. Abbey. In 1995, Abbey's granddaughter, Sophia Abbey-Kuipers,
1224-501: The American southwest. He traveled by foot, bus, hitchhiking , and freight train hopping . During this trip he fell in love with the desert country of the Four Corners region. Abbey wrote: "[...] crags and pinnacles of naked rock, the dark cores of ancient volcanoes , a vast and silent emptiness smoldering with heat, color, and indecipherable significance, above which floated a small number of pure, clear, hard-edged clouds. For
1275-518: The Edge of Time and Samuel R. Delany 's Triton . These texts have become something like a canon for American SF studies. In Scraps of the Untainted Sky (2000) Moylan developed the parallel concept of the 'critical dystopia'. Critical dystopias, he explained, 'burrow within the dystopian tradition', but do so only 'in order to bring utopian and dystopian tendencies to bear on their exposé of
1326-748: The FBI took notes building a profile on Abbey, observing his movements and interviewing many people who knew him. Towards the later part of his life, Abbey learned of the FBI’s interest in him and said "I’d be insulted if they weren’t watching me". After graduating, Schmechal and Abbey traveled together to Edinburgh, Scotland , where Abbey spent a year at Edinburgh University as a Fulbright scholar . During this time, Abbey and Schmechal separated and ended their marriage. In 1951 Abbey began having an affair with Rita Deanin , who in 1952 would become his second wife after he and Schmechal divorced. Deanin and Abbey had two children, Joshua N. Abbey and Aaron Paul Abbey. Abbey's master's thesis explored anarchism and
1377-768: The Mountain , was also adapted into a TV movie by the same title. On October 16, 1965 Abbey married Judy Pepper, who accompanied Abbey as a seasonal park ranger in the Florida Everglades , and then as a fire lookout in Lassen Volcanic National Park . Judy was separated from Abbey for extended periods of time while she attended the University of Arizona to get her master's degree. During this time, Abbey slept with other women—something that Judy gradually became aware of, causing their marriage to suffer. On August 8, 1968 Pepper gave birth to
1428-519: The Natural History Guides at the U.C. Press. He began to take environmental issues and their connections to human value systems, social patterns, and lifestyles just as seriously as he had taken film. He was heavily influenced by Edward Abbey . Callenbach talked publicly about being influenced, during work on his novel Ecotopia , by numerous streams of thought: scientific discoveries in the fields of ecology and conservation biology;
1479-645: The North American Society for Utopian Studies . In 2017 Moylan was awarded the Pilgrim Award for lifetime contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy scholarship by the Science Fiction Research Association . Ernest Callenbach Ernest William Callenbach (April 3, 1929 – April 16, 2012) was an American author, film critic , editor, and simple living adherent. Having many connections with
1530-408: The United States , contending that population growth would cause further harm to the environment. Regarding the accusation of "eco-terrorism", Abbey responded that the tactics he supported were trying to defend against the terrorism he felt was committed by government and industry against living beings and the environment. One final paragraph of advice: [...] It is not enough to fight for the land; it
1581-431: The article, "ironically attributed to Louisa May Alcott " stated "Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest ." University officials seized all of the copies of the issue, and removed Abbey from the editorship of the paper. Upon receiving his honorable discharge papers, he sent it back to the department with the words "Return to Sender". The FBI took note and added
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1632-578: The body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards. Edward Abbey died on March 14, 1989, at the age of 62, in his home in Tucson, Arizona . His death was due to complications from surgery; he suffered four days of esophageal hemorrhaging due to esophageal varices , these often
1683-408: The conflict between utopias and their 'originary world' and on 'the continuing presence of difference and imperfection' within utopia. The result was a more plausible, because recognisable and dynamic, set of alternative possibilities. 'In resisting the flattening out of utopian writing in modern society,' he concluded, 'the critical utopia has destroyed, preserved, and transformed that writing and marks
1734-561: The events that took place at the Rendezvous. In autumn of 1987, the Utne Reader published a letter by Murray Bookchin which claimed that Abbey, Garrett Hardin , and the members of Earth First! were racists and eco-terrorists . Abbey was extremely offended, and demanded a public apology, stating that he was neither racist nor a supporter of terrorism. All three of those Bookchin labelled "racist" opposed illegal immigration into
1785-416: The first important output of utopian discourse since the 1890s'. Moylan's examples included Ernest Callenbach 's Ecotopia , Sally Miller Gearhart 's The Wanderground , Suzy McKee Charnas 's Motherlines and Dorothy Bryant 's The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You . But his primary focus fell on Joanna Russ 's The Female Man , Ursula K. Le Guin 's The Dispossessed , Marge Piercy 's Woman on
1836-523: The first time, I felt I was getting close to the West of my deepest imaginings, the place where the tangible and the mythical became the same." In the U.S. Army , Abbey applied for a clerk typist position but instead he served two years as a military police officer in Italy. Abbey was promoted in the army twice but due to his tendency to oppose authority, was twice demoted and was honorably discharged as
1887-518: The growth of a cactus or cliff rose or sagebrush or tree." said the message. For his funeral, Abbey stated "No formal speeches desired, though the deceased will not interfere if someone feels the urge. But keep it all simple and brief." He requested gunfire and bagpipe music, a cheerful and raucous wake, "[a]nd a flood of beer and booze! Lots of singing, dancing, talking, hollering, laughing, and lovemaking." A 2003 Outside article described how his friends honored his request: "The last time Ed smiled
1938-475: The object of much controversy. Agrarian author Wendell Berry claimed that Abbey was regularly criticized by mainstream environmental groups because Abbey often advocated controversial positions that were very different from those which environmentalists were commonly expected to hold. Abbey has also drawn criticism for what some regard as his racist and sexist views. In an essay called "Immigration and Liberal Taboos", collected in his 1988 book One Life at
1989-538: The park services and American society for its reliance on motor vehicles and technology. He wanted to preserve the wilderness as a refuge for humans and believed that modernization was making us forget what was truly important in life. Regarding his writing style, Abbey states: "I write in a deliberately provocative and outrageous manner because I like to startle people. I hope to wake up people. I have no desire to simply soothe or please. I would rather risk making people angry than putting them to sleep. And I try to write in
2040-409: The past in which smokers didn't hesitate to blow smoke in anybody's face to our present restrictions on smoking in public places, it's clear that shared ideas about acceptable or desirable behavior can change markedly. Such changes occurred without anybody getting arrested in the dark of night. Further changes will come... Edward Abbey Edward Paul Abbey (January 29, 1927 – March 14, 1989)
2091-539: The present moment'. They are thus 'stubbornly' utopian, in the sense that they do not move easily toward their own better worlds: 'Rather, they linger in the terrors of the present even as they exemplify what is needed to transform it'. Moylan insisted that this was an essentially recent development, specific to the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 2008 Moylan was awarded the Lyman Tower Sargent Distinguished Scholar Award by
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2142-536: The squalor, cruelty, and corruption of Latin America, is plain for all to see." It is often stated that Abbey's works played a significant role in precipitating the creation of Earth First! . The Monkey Wrench Gang inspired environmentalists frustrated with mainstream environmentalist groups and what they saw as unacceptable compromises. Earth First! was formed as a result in 1980, advocating eco-sabotage or " monkeywrenching ." Although Abbey never officially joined
2193-469: The term "ecotopia," the term was actually coined by the ethnographer E. N. Anderson.) In terms of concepts of human involvement with the ecology, as well as some of the economic and social concepts, the Ecotopia books are related to what is known as the sustainability movement. Callenbach's Ecotopian concept is not " Luddite " — he does not reject high technology, but rather his fictional society shows
2244-514: The urban-ecology planning movement, concerned with an approach to urban planning; and the soft-energy movement, championed by Amory Lovins and others. Callenbach is known as an author of green books, namely as author of the ecological " utopias " Ecotopia (1975) and Ecotopia Emerging (1981), and also The Ecotopian Encyclopedia (1981), Bring Back the Buffalo! (1995), and Ecology: A Pocket Guide (1998). (While his first novel popularized
2295-456: Was a schoolteacher and a church organist, and gave Abbey an appreciation for classical music and literature. Paul was a socialist , anarchist , and atheist whose views strongly influenced Abbey. Abbey graduated from high school in Indiana, Pennsylvania, in 1945. Eight months before his 18th birthday, when he faced with being conscripted into the U.S. military , Abbey decided to explore
2346-405: Was a story about a woman with whom Abbey had an affair in 1963. Abbey finished the first draft of Black Sun in 1968, two years before Judy died, and it was "a bone of contention in their marriage". Desert Solitaire , Abbey's fourth book and first non-fiction work, was published in 1968. In it, he describes his stay in the canyon country of southeastern Utah from 1956 to 1957. Desert Solitaire
2397-518: Was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues , criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang , which has been cited as an inspiration by radical environmental groups , and the non-fiction work Desert Solitaire . Abbey was born in Indiana , Pennsylvania on January 29, 1927 to Mildred Postlewait and Paul Revere Abbey. Mildred
2448-572: Was being shot on location in New Mexico by Kirk Douglas who had purchased the novel's screen rights and was producing and starring in the film, released in 1962 as Lonely Are the Brave . Douglas once said that when Abbey visited the film set, he looked and talked so much like friend Gary Cooper that Douglas was disconcerted. However, over 25 years later when Abbey died, Douglas wrote that he had 'never met' him. In 1981, his third novel, Fire on
2499-737: Was born. In 1984, Abbey went back to the University of Arizona to teach courses in creative writing and hospitality management. During this time, he continued working on his book Fool's Progress . In July 1987, Abbey went to the Earth First! Rendezvous at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. While there, he was involved in a heated debate over his views on immigration with an anarchist communist group known as Alien Nation. Abbey devoted an entire chapter in his book Hayduke Lives to
2550-665: Was often a speaker, discussion panellist, and essayist. In 2006 Callenbach introduced the story of a real-world community movement in Japan that is reminiscent, in its aims and practices, of his Ecotopian society. He visited Japan and investigated the Yamagishi movement . He found that it encompassed some three dozen intentional communities founded on the same underlying principles: living an ecologically based integration of people with agriculture (pig, cattle, and chicken livestock raising, and organic-vegetable and fruit farming), and living
2601-522: Was when I told him where he was going to be buried," says Doug Peacock , an environmental crusader in Edward Abbey's inner circle. On March 14, 1989, the day Abbey died from esophageal bleeding at 62, Peacock, along with his friend Jack Loeffler, his father-in-law Tom Cartwright, and his brother-in-law Steve Prescott, wrapped Abbey's body in his blue sleeping bag, packed it with dry ice, and loaded Cactus Ed into Loeffler's Chevy pickup. After stopping at
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