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{{Short description|1872 novel}}
{{Short description|1872 novel by Samuel Butler}}
{{hatgrp|
{{other uses}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect|Over the Range|the 1937 book|Over the Range (Idriess book)}}
{{Redirect|Over the Range|the 1937 book|Over the Range (Idriess book){{!}}''Over the Range'' (Idriess book)}}
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox book|
{{Infobox book
|name = Erewhon
|name = Erewhon
|title_orig =
|title_orig =
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|illustrator =
|illustrator =
|cover_artist =
|cover_artist =
|country = [[United Kingdom]]
|country = United Kingdom
|language = English
|language = English
|series =
|series =
|genre = [[Satire]], [[Science fiction]]<ref>Canavan, Gerry (2018). ''The Cambridge History of Science Fiction''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 57, 76–77. {{ISBN|978-1-31-669437-4}}</ref>
|genre = [[Satire]]
|publisher = [[Nicholas Trübner|Trübner]] and [[John Ballantyne (publisher)|Ballantyne]]
|publisher = [[Nicholas Trübner|Trübner]] and [[John Ballantyne (publisher)|Ballantyne]]
|release_date = 1872
|release_date = 1872
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|preceded_by =
|preceded_by =
|followed_by = [[Erewhon Revisited]]
|followed_by = [[Erewhon Revisited]]
|external_url = https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/samuel-butler/erewhon
}}
}}


[[File:Erewhon.map.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Map of part of New Zealand to illustrate ''Erewhon'' and ''[[Erewhon Revisited]]'']]
[[File:Erewhon.map.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Map of part of New Zealand to illustrate ''Erewhon'' and ''[[Erewhon Revisited]]'']]
'''''Erewhon: or, Over the Range''''' ({{IPAc-en|ɛ|r|ɛ|ʍ|ɒ|n}}<ref>In the preface to the first edition of his book, Butler specified that "The Author wishes it to be understood that Erewhon is pronounced as a word of three syllables, all short—thus, Ĕ-rĕ-whŏn." Nevertheless, the word is occasionally pronounced with two syllables as "air-hwun" or "air-one".</ref>) is a novel by [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]] which was first published anonymously in 1872,<ref>{{Cite book |year=1872 |title= Erewhon, or Over the Range |publisher=Trubner & Co. |place=London |edition= 1 |url=https://archive.org/stream/ErewhonOverrang00Butl#page/ii/mode/2up |access-date=5 March 2016 |via= Internet Archive}}</ref> set in a [[fictional country]] discovered and explored by the protagonist. The book is a satire on [[Victorian morality|Victorian]] society.<ref>George Orwell, ''Erewhon'', BBC Home Service, Talks for Schools, 8 June 1945</ref>
'''''Erewhon: or, Over the Range''''' ({{IPAc-en|ɛ|r|ɛ|ʍ|ɒ|n}}<ref>The title is an anagram of the word "nowhere." In the preface to the first edition of his book, Butler specified that "The Author wishes it to be understood that Erewhon is pronounced as a word of three syllables, all short—thus, Ĕ-rĕ-whŏn." Nevertheless, the word is occasionally pronounced with two syllables as "air-hwun" or "air-one".</ref>) is a novel by English writer [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]], first published in 1872,<ref>{{Cite book |year=1872 |title= Erewhon, or Over the Range |publisher=Trubner & Co. |place=London |edition= 1st |url=https://archive.org/stream/ErewhonOverrang00Butl#page/ii/mode/2up |access-date=5 March 2016 |via= Internet Archive}}</ref> set in a [[fictional country]] discovered and explored by the protagonist. The book is a satire on [[Victorian morality|Victorian]] society.<ref>George Orwell, ''Erewhon'', BBC Home Service, Talks for Schools, 8 June 1945</ref>


The first few chapters of the novel dealing with the discovery of Erewhon are in fact based on Butler's own experiences in [[New Zealand]], where, as a young man, he worked as a [[sheep station|sheep farmer]] on [[Mesopotamia Station]] for about four years (1860–64), and explored parts of the interior of the [[South Island]] and which he wrote about in his ''A First Year in Canterbury Settlement'' (1863).
The first few chapters of the novel dealing with the discovery of Erewhon are based on Butler's own experiences in [[New Zealand]], where, as a young man, he worked as a [[sheep station|sheep farmer]] on [[Mesopotamia Station]] for four years (1860–1864), exploring parts of the interior of the [[South Island]] and writing about it in ''A First Year in Canterbury Settlement'' (1863).


The novel is one of the first to explore ideas of [[Artificial intelligence in fiction|artificial intelligence]], as influenced by [[Charles Darwin|Darwin's]] recently published ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'' (1859) and the machines developed out of the [[Industrial Revolution]] (late 18th to early 19th centuries). Specifically, it concerns itself, in the three-chapter "Book of the Machines", with the potentially dangerous ideas of [[Artificial consciousness|machine consciousness]] and [[Self-replicating machines in fiction|self-replicating machines]].
The novel is one of the first to explore ideas of [[Artificial intelligence in fiction|artificial intelligence]], as influenced by [[Charles Darwin|Darwin's]] recently published ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'' (1859) and the machines developed out of the [[Industrial Revolution]] (late 18th to early 19th centuries). Specifically, it concerns itself, in the three-chapter "Book of the Machines", with the potentially dangerous ideas of [[Artificial consciousness|machine consciousness]] and [[Self-replicating machines in fiction|self-replicating machines]].


==Content==
==Content==
The greater part of the book consists of a description of Erewhon. The nature of this nation is intended to be ambiguous. At first glance, Erewhon appears to be a [[Utopia]], yet it soon becomes clear that this is far from the case. Yet for all the failings of Erewhon, it is also clearly not a [[dystopia]], such as that depicted in 1949 in [[George Orwell]]'s ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''.
The greater part of the book consists of a description of Erewhon. The nature of this nation is intended to be ambiguous{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}. At first glance, Erewhon appears to be a [[utopia]], yet it soon becomes clear that this is far from the case. Yet for all the failings of Erewhon, it is also clearly not a [[dystopia]], such as that depicted in [[George Orwell]]'s ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' (1949).


As a [[satirical]] utopia, ''Erewhon'' has sometimes been compared to ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'' (1726), a classic novel by [[Jonathan Swift]]; the image of Utopia in this latter case also bears strong parallels with the self-view of the [[British Empire]] at the time. It can also be compared to the [[William Morris]] novel, ''[[News from Nowhere]]'' (1890).
As a [[satirical]] utopia, ''Erewhon'' has sometimes been compared to ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'' (1726), by [[Jonathan Swift]]; the image of Utopia in this latter case also bears strong parallels with the self-view of the [[British Empire]] at the time. It can also be compared to the [[William Morris]] novel, ''[[News from Nowhere]]'' (1890) and [[Thomas More]]'s ''[[Utopia (book)|Utopia]]'' (1516).


''Erewhon'' satirises various aspects of [[Victorian era|Victorian society]], including criminal punishment, religion and [[anthropocentrism]]. For example, according to Erewhonian law, offenders are treated as if they were ill, whereas ill people are looked upon as criminals. Another feature of Erewhon is the absence of machines; this is due to the widely shared perception by the Erewhonians that they are potentially dangerous.
''Erewhon'' satirises various aspects of [[Victorian era|Victorian society]], including criminal punishment, religion, and [[anthropocentrism]]. For example, according to Erewhonian law, offenders are treated as if they were ill, whereas ill people are looked upon as criminals. Another feature of Erewhon is the absence of machines; this is due to the widely shared perception by the Erewhonians that machines are potentially dangerous.


===The Book of the Machines===
===The Book of the Machines===
Butler developed the three chapters of ''Erewhon'' that make up "The Book of the Machines" from a number of articles that he had contributed to ''[[The Press]]'', which had just begun publication in [[Christchurch]], New Zealand, beginning with "[[Darwin among the Machines]]" (1863). Butler was the first to write about the possibility that [[Artificial consciousness|machines might develop consciousness]] by [[natural selection]].<ref>''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6173 "Darwin among the Machines"], reprinted in the Notebooks of Samuel Butler at [[Project Gutenberg]]</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Taylor|first1=Tim|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-48234-3|title=Rise of the Self-Replicators: Early Visions of Machines, AI and Robots That Can Reproduce and Evolve|last2=Dorin|first2=Alan|date=2020|publisher=Springer International Publishing|isbn=978-3-030-48233-6|location=Cham|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-48234-3|s2cid=220855726|lay-url=https://www.tim-taylor.com/selfrepbook/}}</ref>
Butler developed the three chapters of ''Erewhon'' that make up "The Book of the Machines" from a number of articles he had contributed to ''[[The Press]]'', which had just begun publication in [[Christchurch]], New Zealand, beginning with "[[Darwin among the Machines]]" (1863). Butler was the first to write about the possibility that [[Artificial consciousness|machines might develop consciousness]] by [[natural selection]].<ref>''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6173 "Darwin among the Machines"], reprinted in the Notebooks of Samuel Butler at [[Project Gutenberg]]</ref>


Many dismissed this as a joke; but, in his preface to the second edition, Butler wrote, "I regret that reviewers have in some cases been inclined to treat the chapters on Machines as an attempt to reduce Mr Darwin's theory to an absurdity. Nothing could be further from my intention, and few things would be more distasteful to me than any attempt to laugh at Mr Darwin."
Many dismissed this as a joke, but, in his preface to the second edition, Butler wrote, "I regret that reviewers have in some cases been inclined to treat the chapters on Machines as an attempt to reduce Mr Darwin's theory to an absurdity. Nothing could be further from my intention, and few things would be more distasteful to me than any attempt to laugh at Mr Darwin."


===Characters===
===Characters===
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* Yram—The daughter of Higgs' jailer who takes care of him when he first enters Erewhon. Her name is Mary spelled backwards.
* Yram—The daughter of Higgs' jailer who takes care of him when he first enters Erewhon. Her name is Mary spelled backwards.
* Senoj Nosnibor—Higgs' host after he is released from prison; he hopes that Higgs will marry his elder daughter. His name is Robinson Jones backwards.
* Senoj Nosnibor—Higgs' host after he is released from prison; he hopes that Higgs will marry his elder daughter. His name is Robinson Jones backwards.
* Zulora—Senoj Nosnibor's elder daughter—Higgs finds her unpleasant, but her father hopes Higgs will marry her. Her name is Aroluz backwards.
* Zulora—Senoj Nosnibor's elder daughter—Higgs finds her unpleasant, but her father hopes Higgs will marry her.
* Arowhena—Senoj Nosnibor's younger daughter; she falls in love with Higgs and runs away with him.
* Arowhena—Senoj Nosnibor's younger daughter; she falls in love with Higgs and runs away with him.
* Mahaina—A woman who claims to suffer from [[alcoholism]] but is believed to have a weak temperament.
* Mahaina—A woman who claims to suffer from [[alcoholism]] but is believed to have a weak temperament.
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==Reception==
==Reception==
After its first release, this book sold far better than any of Butler's other works,{{clarify|date=February 2013}} perhaps because the British public assumed that the anonymous author was some better-known figure{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}} (the favourite being [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton]], who had published ''[[The Coming Race]]'' two years previously). In a 1945 broadcast, [[George Orwell]] praised the book and said that when Butler wrote ''Erewhon'' it needed "imagination of a very high order to see that machinery could be dangerous as well as useful." He recommended the novel, though not its sequel, ''[[Erewhon Revisited]]''.<ref>Orwell, Collected Works, I Belong to the Left, pp. 172–173</ref>
In a 1945 broadcast, [[George Orwell]] praised the book and said that when Butler wrote ''Erewhon'' it needed "imagination of a very high order to see that machinery could be dangerous as well as useful". He recommended the novel, though not its sequel, ''[[Erewhon Revisited]]''.<ref>Orwell, Collected Works, I Belong to the Left, pp. 172–173</ref>


==Influence and legacy==
==Influence and legacy==
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In his collaboration with [[Félix Guattari]], ''[[Anti-Oedipus]]'' (1972), Deleuze draws on Butler's "The Book of the Machines" to "go beyond" the "usual polemic between [[vitalism]] and [[Mechanism (philosophy)|mechanism]]" as it relates to their concept of "[[Desiring-production|desiring-machines]]":<ref>Deleuze and Guattari (1972, pp. 312–314).</ref>
In his collaboration with [[Félix Guattari]], ''[[Anti-Oedipus]]'' (1972), Deleuze draws on Butler's "The Book of the Machines" to "go beyond" the "usual polemic between [[vitalism]] and [[Mechanism (philosophy)|mechanism]]" as it relates to their concept of "[[Desiring-production|desiring-machines]]":<ref>Deleuze and Guattari (1972, pp. 312–314).</ref>
{{quote|For one thing, Butler is not content to say that machines extend the [[organism]], but asserts that they are really limbs and organs lying on the [[body without organs]] of a society, which men will appropriate according to their power and their wealth, and whose poverty deprives them as if they were mutilated organisms. For another, he is not content to say that organisms are machines, but asserts that they contain such an abundance of parts that they must be compared to very different parts of distinct machines, each relating to the others, engendered in combination with the others ... He shatters the vitalist argument by calling in question the specific or personal unity of the organism, and the mechanist argument even more decisively, by calling in question the structural unity of the machine.|[[Gilles Deleuze|Deleuze]] and [[Félix Guattari|Guattari]]|''[[Anti-Œdipus]]''}}
{{blockquote|For one thing, Butler is not content to say that machines extend the [[organism]], but asserts that they are really limbs and organs lying on the [[body without organs]] of a society, which men will appropriate according to their power and their wealth, and whose poverty deprives them as if they were mutilated organisms. For another, he is not content to say that organisms are machines, but asserts that they contain such an abundance of parts that they must be compared to very different parts of distinct machines, each relating to the others, engendered in combination with the others ... He shatters the vitalist argument by calling in question the specific or personal unity of the organism, and the mechanist argument even more decisively, by calling in question the structural unity of the machine.|[[Gilles Deleuze|Deleuze]] and [[Félix Guattari|Guattari]]|''[[Anti-Œdipus]]''}}


===Other uses===
===Other References===
[[Agatha Christie]] references ''Erewhon'' in her novel ''Death on the Nile'' (1937).
[[C. S. Lewis]] alludes to the book in his essay, ''The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment'' in the posthumously published collection, ''God in the Dock'' (1970).


A copy of ''Erewhon'' figures in [[Elizabeth Bowen]]'s short story "The Cat Jumps" (1934).
[[Aldous Huxley]] alludes to the book in his novel ''Island'' (1962) as does [[Agatha Christie]] in ''Death on the Nile'' (1937).


[[Karl Popper]]'s book ''[[The Open Society and Its Enemies]]'' (1945), includes and epigraph from ''Erewhon'' that reads, "It will be seen ... that the Erewhonians are a meek and long-suffering people easily led by the nose, and quick to offer up common sense at the shrine of logic, when a philosopher arises among them who carries them away ... by convincing them that their existing institutions are not based on the strictest principles of morality."<ref>Karl Raimund Popper, ''The Open Society and Its Enemies: The Spell of Plato. Vol. 1'', (Princeton University Press) 1971.</ref>
⚫
In 1994, a group of ex-[[Yugoslavia]]n writers in [[Amsterdam]], who had established the [[International PEN|PEN centre of Yugoslav Writers in Exile]], published a single issue of a literary journal ''Erewhon''.<ref>''[http://www.biblio.com/slobodan-et-al-blagojevic/erewhon~1189370~title Erewhon]''; Blagojevic, Slobodan, et al.</ref>


[[Alan M. Turing]] references ''Erewhon'' in his posthumously published paper, "Intelligent Machinery, A Heretical Theory" (c. 1951). He writes, "At some stage therefore we should have to expect the machines to take control, in the way that is mentioned in Samuel Butler's Erewhon."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Turing |first1=Sara |title=Alan M. Turing: Centenary Edition |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1107020580 |pages=157 }}</ref>
⚫
New Zealand sound art organisation, the Audio Foundation, published in 2012 an anthology edited by [[Bruce Russell (musician)|Bruce Russell]] named ''Erewhon Calling'' after Butler's book.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hayes|first1=Craig|title=Crooked Sounds from Aotearoa 'Erewhon Calling: Experimental Sound in New Zealand|url=https://www.popmatters.com/163769-erewhon-calling-experimental-sound-in-new-zealand-bruce-russell-edit-2495811032.html|website=Pop Matters|access-date=5 December 2017}}</ref>


[[Aldous Huxley]] alludes to ''Erewhon'' in his novels ''The Doors of Perception'' (1954) and ''Island'' (1962).
⚫
In 2014, [[New Zealand]] artist [[Gavin Hipkins]] released his first feature film, titled ''Erewhon'' and based on Butler's book. It premiered at the [[New Zealand International Film Festival]] and the [[Edinburgh Art Festival]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Review of 'Erewhon'|url=http://www.circuit.org.nz/blog/circuit-cast-episode-14-gavin-hipkins-kim-paton-spark-festival|website=CIRCUIT|date=19 September 2014|access-date=12 June 2016}}</ref>


In his book, ''A Testament'' (1957), [[Frank Lloyd Wright]] mistakenly attributes the origin of the term [[Usonia]] as an alternate name for the [[United States of America]] to Samuel Butler in ''Erewhon''.
⚫
In "[[Smile (Doctor Who)|Smile]]", the second episode of the 2017 season of ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Doctor and Bill explore a spaceship named ''Erehwon''. Despite the slightly different spelling, the episode writer [[Frank Cottrell-Boyce]] confirmed<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://twitter.com/frankcottrell_b/status/855857616358166528|title=Frank Cottrell-Boyce on Twitter|work=Twitter|access-date=2017-05-21|language=en}}</ref> that this was a reference to Butler's novel.


'The Butlerian Jihad' is the name of the crusade to wipe out 'thinking machines' in the novel, ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]'', by [[Frank Herbert]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://spartanideas.msu.edu/2016/03/29/8624/|title = The Butlerian Jihad and Darwin among the Machines}}</ref>
The "[[Butlerian Jihad]]" is the name of the crusade to wipe out "thinking machines" in the [[Frank Herbert]]'s novel, ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]'' (1965).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://spartanideas.msu.edu/2016/03/29/8624/|title = The Butlerian Jihad and Darwin among the Machines| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805185224/http://spartanideas.msu.edu/2016/03/29/8624/ | archive-date=5 August 2021 }}</ref>


'Erewhon' is the name of Los Angeles-based natural foods grocery store originally founded in Boston in 1966.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Erewhon – Natural Foods Pioneer in the United States (1966-2011)|url=http://www.soyinfocenter.com/pdf/Erewhon.pdf|website=Soy Info Center|access-date=21 December 2019}}</ref>
[[Erewhon Market]] is the name of an upscale Los Angeles-based natural foods grocery chain originally founded in Boston in 1966.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Erewhon – Natural Foods Pioneer in the United States (1966-2011)|url=http://www.soyinfocenter.com/pdf/Erewhon.pdf|website=Soy Info Center|access-date=21 December 2019}}</ref>


[[C.S. Lewis]] alludes to ''Erewhon'' in his essay, "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment."<ref>C.S. Lewis, Walter Hooper, ed. ''God in the Dock; Essays on Theology and Ethics,'' (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans) 1970. Also: C.S. Lewis, "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment," ''Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy'' Vol. 13: No. 1, Article 11. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/irp/vol13/iss1/11</ref>
⚫
'Erewhon' is also the name of an independent speculative fiction publishing company<ref>https://www.erewhonbooks.com</ref> founded in 2018 by [[Liz Gorinsky]].<ref>{{cite web|title=New Science Fiction and Fantasy Publisher Founded by Former Tor Books Editor|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/liz-gorinsky-founds-erewhon-books-1153139|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=17 October 2018|access-date=17 October 2018}}</ref>

The movie ''[[The Day of the Dolphin]]'' (1973) features a boat named the Erewhon.{{fact|date=June 2024}}

"Erewhon" is the unofficial name US astronauts give Regan Station, a military space station in [[David Brin|David Brin's]] novel ''[[Earth (Brin novel)|Earth]]'' (1990).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.davidbrin.com/fiction/earth2.html|title=DAVID BRIN: Earth}}</ref>

⚫
In 1994, a group of ex-[[Yugoslavia]]n writers in [[Amsterdam]], who had established the [[International PEN|PEN centre of Yugoslav Writers in Exile]], published a single issue of the literary journal ''Erewhon''.<ref>''[http://www.biblio.com/slobodan-et-al-blagojevic/erewhon~1189370~title Erewhon]''; Blagojevic, Slobodan, et al.</ref>

In the graphic novel [[Bye Bye, Earth]] (2000), Belle's sword is called "Erehwon", and the story makes reference to the novel ''Erewhon''.

⚫
New Zealand sound art organization, the Audio Foundation, published in 2012 an anthology edited by [[Bruce Russell (musician)|Bruce Russell]] named ''Erewhon Calling'' after Butler's novel.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hayes|first1=Craig|title=Crooked Sounds from Aotearoa 'Erewhon Calling: Experimental Sound in New Zealand|url=https://www.popmatters.com/163769-erewhon-calling-experimental-sound-in-new-zealand-bruce-russell-edit-2495811032.html|publisher=PopMatters|date=8 October 2012|access-date=5 December 2017}}</ref>

⚫
In 2014, [[New Zealand]] artist [[Gavin Hipkins]] released his first feature film, titled ''Erewhon'' and based on Butler's book. It premiered at the [[New Zealand International Film Festival]] and the [[Edinburgh Art Festival]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Review of 'Erewhon'|url=http://www.circuit.org.nz/blog/circuit-cast-episode-14-gavin-hipkins-kim-paton-spark-festival|website=CIRCUIT|date=19 September 2014|access-date=12 June 2016}}</ref>

⚫
In "[[Smile (Doctor Who)|Smile]]", the second episode of the 2017 season of ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Doctor and Bill explore a spaceship named ''Erehwon''. Despite the slightly different spelling, the episode writer [[Frank Cottrell-Boyce]] confirmed<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://twitter.com/frankcottrell_b/status/855857616358166528|title=Frank Cottrell-Boyce on Twitter|via=Twitter|access-date=2017-05-21}}</ref> that this was a reference to Butler's novel.

⚫
Erewhon is the name of an independent speculative fiction publishing company<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.erewhonbooks.com| title = Erewhon Books}}</ref> founded in 2018 by [[Liz Gorinsky]].<ref>{{cite web|title=New Science Fiction and Fantasy Publisher Founded by Former Tor Books Editor|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/liz-gorinsky-founds-erewhon-books-1153139|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=17 October 2018|access-date=17 October 2018}}</ref>

A copy of Erewhon figures prominently in the video for "A Barely Lit Path," the lead single from [[Oneohtrix Point Never]]'s 2023 album ''Again.''<ref>{{Citation |title=Oneohtrix Point Never – A Barely Lit Path | date=29 August 2023 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kyFqe36BqM |access-date=2023-08-29}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Rangitata River]] – the location of the Erewhon sheep station named by Butler who was the first white settler in the area and lived at the Mesopotamia Sheep Station
* [[Rangitata River]] – the location of the Erewhon sheep station named by Butler who was the first white settler in the area and lived at the Mesopotamia Sheep Station
* [[Nacirema]] - another piece of satirical writing with a similar backwards pun
* [[Nacirema]] – another piece of satirical writing with a similar backwards pun


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
* "Mesopotamia Station", Newton, P. (1960)
* "Mesopotamia Station", Newton, P. (1960)
*{{cite book
* "Early Canterbury Runs", Acland, L. G. D. (1946)
|last = Acland
|first = Leopold George Dyke
|title = The Early Canterbury Runs: Containing the First, Second and Third (new) Series
|year = 1946
|publisher = Whitcombe and Tombs Limited
|location = Christchurch
|url = https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-AclEarl-t1-body-d6-d5.html
}}
* "Samuel Butler of Mesopotamia", Maling, P. B. (1960)
* "Samuel Butler of Mesopotamia", Maling, P. B. (1960)
* "The Cradle of Erewhon", Jones, J. (1959)
* "The Cradle of Erewhon", Jones, J. (1959)
* ''The Day of the Dolphin'' (1973 film starring George C. Scott); it is the name of a motorboat that appears approx. 12 min. into the film.


==External links==
==External links==
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* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/samuel-butler/erewhon}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/samuel-butler/erewhon}}
* {{Gutenberg|1906|Erewhon}}
* {{Gutenberg|1906|Erewhon}}
* [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-ButFir-t1-g1-t1-g1-t4-body.html "Darwin Among the Machines" (To the Editor of ''The Press'', Christchurch, New Zealand, 13 June 1863)] from the [[New Zealand Electronic Text Centre]]
* [https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-ButFir-t1-g1-t1-g1-t4-body.html "Darwin Among the Machines" (To the Editor of ''The Press'', Christchurch, New Zealand, 13 June 1863)] from the [[New Zealand Electronic Text Centre]]
* {{librivox book | title=Erewhon | author=Samuel BUTLER}}
* {{librivox book | title=Erewhon | author=Samuel BUTLER}}


{{Samuel Butler}}
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{{Deleuze-Guattari}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

⚫
{{Deleuze-Guattari}}


[[Category:1872 British novels]]
[[Category:1872 British novels]]
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[[Category:Social science fiction]]
[[Category:Social science fiction]]
[[Category:Novels set in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Novels set in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Novels set in fictional countries]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Victorian novels]]
[[Category:Victorian novels]]

Latest revision as of 00:40, 3 December 2024

For other uses, see Erewhon (disambiguation). "Over the Range" redirects here. For the 1937 book, see Over the Range (Idriess book).

Erewhon
First edition cover
AuthorSamuel Butler
LanguageEnglish
GenreSatire, Science fiction[1]
PublisherTrübner and Ballantyne
Publication date
1872
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Pages246
OCLC2735354
823.8
LC ClassPR4349.B7 E7 1872 c. 1
Followed byErewhon Revisited 
TextErewhon online
Map of part of New Zealand to illustrate Erewhon and Erewhon Revisited

Erewhon: or, Over the Range (/ɛrɛhwɒn/[2]) is a novel by English writer Samuel Butler, first published in 1872,[3] set in a fictional country discovered and explored by the protagonist. The book is a satire on Victorian society.[4]

The first few chapters of the novel dealing with the discovery of Erewhon are based on Butler's own experiences in New Zealand, where, as a young man, he worked as a sheep farmer on Mesopotamia Station for four years (1860–1864), exploring parts of the interior of the South Island and writing about it in A First Year in Canterbury Settlement (1863).

The novel is one of the first to explore ideas of artificial intelligence, as influenced by Darwin's recently published On the Origin of Species (1859) and the machines developed out of the Industrial Revolution (late 18th to early 19th centuries). Specifically, it concerns itself, in the three-chapter "Book of the Machines", with the potentially dangerous ideas of machine consciousness and self-replicating machines.

Content

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The greater part of the book consists of a description of Erewhon. The nature of this nation is intended to be ambiguous[citation needed]. At first glance, Erewhon appears to be a utopia, yet it soon becomes clear that this is far from the case. Yet for all the failings of Erewhon, it is also clearly not a dystopia, such as that depicted in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).

As a satirical utopia, Erewhon has sometimes been compared to Gulliver's Travels (1726), by Jonathan Swift; the image of Utopia in this latter case also bears strong parallels with the self-view of the British Empire at the time. It can also be compared to the William Morris novel, News from Nowhere (1890) and Thomas More's Utopia (1516).

Erewhon satirises various aspects of Victorian society, including criminal punishment, religion, and anthropocentrism. For example, according to Erewhonian law, offenders are treated as if they were ill, whereas ill people are looked upon as criminals. Another feature of Erewhon is the absence of machines; this is due to the widely shared perception by the Erewhonians that machines are potentially dangerous.

The Book of the Machines

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Butler developed the three chapters of Erewhon that make up "The Book of the Machines" from a number of articles he had contributed to The Press, which had just begun publication in Christchurch, New Zealand, beginning with "Darwin among the Machines" (1863). Butler was the first to write about the possibility that machines might develop consciousness by natural selection.[5]

Many dismissed this as a joke, but, in his preface to the second edition, Butler wrote, "I regret that reviewers have in some cases been inclined to treat the chapters on Machines as an attempt to reduce Mr Darwin's theory to an absurdity. Nothing could be further from my intention, and few things would be more distasteful to me than any attempt to laugh at Mr Darwin."

Characters

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  • Higgs—The narrator who informs the reader of the nature of Erewhonian society.
  • Chowbok (Kahabuka)—Higgs' guide into the mountains; he is a native who greatly fears the Erewhonians. He eventually abandons Higgs.
  • Yram—The daughter of Higgs' jailer who takes care of him when he first enters Erewhon. Her name is Mary spelled backwards.
  • Senoj Nosnibor—Higgs' host after he is released from prison; he hopes that Higgs will marry his elder daughter. His name is Robinson Jones backwards.
  • Zulora—Senoj Nosnibor's elder daughter—Higgs finds her unpleasant, but her father hopes Higgs will marry her.
  • Arowhena—Senoj Nosnibor's younger daughter; she falls in love with Higgs and runs away with him.
  • Mahaina—A woman who claims to suffer from alcoholism but is believed to have a weak temperament.
  • Ydgrun—The incomprehensible goddess of the Erewhonians. Her name is an anagram of Grundy (from Mrs. Grundy, a character in Thomas Morton's play Speed the Plough).

Reception

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In a 1945 broadcast, George Orwell praised the book and said that when Butler wrote Erewhon it needed "imagination of a very high order to see that machinery could be dangerous as well as useful". He recommended the novel, though not its sequel, Erewhon Revisited.[6]

Influence and legacy

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Deleuze and Guattari

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The French philosopher Gilles Deleuze used ideas from Butler's book at various points in the development of his philosophy of difference. In Difference and Repetition (1968), Deleuze refers to what he calls "Ideas" as "Erewhon". "Ideas are not concepts", he argues, but rather "a form of eternally positive differential multiplicity, distinguished from the identity of concepts."[7] "Erewhon" refers to the "nomadic distributions" that pertain to simulacra, which "are not universals like the categories, nor are they the hic et nunc or nowhere, the diversity to which categories apply in representation."[8] "Erewhon", in this reading, is "not only a disguised no-where but a rearranged now-here."[9]

In his collaboration with Félix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus (1972), Deleuze draws on Butler's "The Book of the Machines" to "go beyond" the "usual polemic between vitalism and mechanism" as it relates to their concept of "desiring-machines":[10]

For one thing, Butler is not content to say that machines extend the organism, but asserts that they are really limbs and organs lying on the body without organs of a society, which men will appropriate according to their power and their wealth, and whose poverty deprives them as if they were mutilated organisms. For another, he is not content to say that organisms are machines, but asserts that they contain such an abundance of parts that they must be compared to very different parts of distinct machines, each relating to the others, engendered in combination with the others ... He shatters the vitalist argument by calling in question the specific or personal unity of the organism, and the mechanist argument even more decisively, by calling in question the structural unity of the machine.

— Deleuze and Guattari, Anti-Œdipus

Other References

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Agatha Christie references Erewhon in her novel Death on the Nile (1937).

A copy of Erewhon figures in Elizabeth Bowen's short story "The Cat Jumps" (1934).

Karl Popper's book The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945), includes and epigraph from Erewhon that reads, "It will be seen ... that the Erewhonians are a meek and long-suffering people easily led by the nose, and quick to offer up common sense at the shrine of logic, when a philosopher arises among them who carries them away ... by convincing them that their existing institutions are not based on the strictest principles of morality."[11]

Alan M. Turing references Erewhon in his posthumously published paper, "Intelligent Machinery, A Heretical Theory" (c. 1951). He writes, "At some stage therefore we should have to expect the machines to take control, in the way that is mentioned in Samuel Butler's Erewhon."[12]

Aldous Huxley alludes to Erewhon in his novels The Doors of Perception (1954) and Island (1962).

In his book, A Testament (1957), Frank Lloyd Wright mistakenly attributes the origin of the term Usonia as an alternate name for the United States of America to Samuel Butler in Erewhon.

The "Butlerian Jihad" is the name of the crusade to wipe out "thinking machines" in the Frank Herbert's novel, Dune (1965).[13]

Erewhon Market is the name of an upscale Los Angeles-based natural foods grocery chain originally founded in Boston in 1966.[14]

C.S. Lewis alludes to Erewhon in his essay, "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment."[15]

The movie The Day of the Dolphin (1973) features a boat named the Erewhon.[citation needed]

"Erewhon" is the unofficial name US astronauts give Regan Station, a military space station in David Brin's novel Earth (1990).[16]

In 1994, a group of ex-Yugoslavian writers in Amsterdam, who had established the PEN centre of Yugoslav Writers in Exile, published a single issue of the literary journal Erewhon.[17]

In the graphic novel Bye Bye, Earth (2000), Belle's sword is called "Erehwon", and the story makes reference to the novel Erewhon.

New Zealand sound art organization, the Audio Foundation, published in 2012 an anthology edited by Bruce Russell named Erewhon Calling after Butler's novel.[18]

In 2014, New Zealand artist Gavin Hipkins released his first feature film, titled Erewhon and based on Butler's book. It premiered at the New Zealand International Film Festival and the Edinburgh Art Festival.[19]

In "Smile", the second episode of the 2017 season of Doctor Who, the Doctor and Bill explore a spaceship named Erehwon. Despite the slightly different spelling, the episode writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce confirmed[20] that this was a reference to Butler's novel.

Erewhon is the name of an independent speculative fiction publishing company[21] founded in 2018 by Liz Gorinsky.[22]

A copy of Erewhon figures prominently in the video for "A Barely Lit Path," the lead single from Oneohtrix Point Never's 2023 album Again.[23]

See also

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  • Rangitata River – the location of the Erewhon sheep station named by Butler who was the first white settler in the area and lived at the Mesopotamia Sheep Station
  • Nacirema – another piece of satirical writing with a similar backwards pun

References

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  1. ^ Canavan, Gerry (2018). The Cambridge History of Science Fiction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 57, 76–77. ISBN 978-1-31-669437-4
  2. ^ The title is an anagram of the word "nowhere." In the preface to the first edition of his book, Butler specified that "The Author wishes it to be understood that Erewhon is pronounced as a word of three syllables, all short—thus, Ĕ-rĕ-whŏn." Nevertheless, the word is occasionally pronounced with two syllables as "air-hwun" or "air-one".
  3. ^ Erewhon, or Over the Range (1st ed.). London: Trubner & Co. 1872. Retrieved 5 March 2016 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ George Orwell, Erewhon, BBC Home Service, Talks for Schools, 8 June 1945
  5. ^ "Darwin among the Machines", reprinted in the Notebooks of Samuel Butler at Project Gutenberg
  6. ^ Orwell, Collected Works, I Belong to the Left, pp. 172–173
  7. ^ Deleuze (1968, p. 288).
  8. ^ Deleuze (1968, p. 285).
  9. ^ Deleuze (1968, p. 333, n.7).
  10. ^ Deleuze and Guattari (1972, pp. 312–314).
  11. ^ Karl Raimund Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies: The Spell of Plato. Vol. 1, (Princeton University Press) 1971.
  12. ^ Turing, Sara (2012). Alan M. Turing: Centenary Edition. Cambridge University Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-1107020580.
  13. ^ "The Butlerian Jihad and Darwin among the Machines". Archived from the original on 5 August 2021.
  14. ^ "History of Erewhon – Natural Foods Pioneer in the United States (1966-2011)" (PDF). Soy Info Center. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  15. ^ C.S. Lewis, Walter Hooper, ed. God in the Dock; Essays on Theology and Ethics, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans) 1970. Also: C.S. Lewis, "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment," Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy Vol. 13: No. 1, Article 11. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/irp/vol13/iss1/11
  16. ^ "DAVID BRIN: Earth".
  17. ^ Erewhon; Blagojevic, Slobodan, et al.
  18. ^ Hayes, Craig (8 October 2012). "Crooked Sounds from Aotearoa 'Erewhon Calling: Experimental Sound in New Zealand". PopMatters. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  19. ^ "Review of 'Erewhon'". CIRCUIT. 19 September 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  20. ^ "Frank Cottrell-Boyce on Twitter". Retrieved 21 May 2017 – via Twitter.
  21. ^ "Erewhon Books".
  22. ^ "New Science Fiction and Fantasy Publisher Founded by Former Tor Books Editor". The Hollywood Reporter. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  23. ^ Oneohtrix Point Never – A Barely Lit Path, 29 August 2023, retrieved 29 August 2023
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