Henry Neville’s <i>The Isle of Pines</i> and the Emergence of Racial and Colonial Discourses in the Genre of Utopia in Britain

Abstract

This essay will explicate and study Henry Neville's The Isle of Pines as one of the most popular utopian/dystopian accounts written in the pamphleteering tradition current in the seventeenth century. The researcher will see how Neville's socio-political philosophy was molded in the highly turbulent atmosphere of the seventeenth century. Then, The Isle of Pines will closely be analyzed to assess its formation under the influence of the controversial nature of the politics of the time. We will also elaborate on Neville's introduction of the pamphleteering tradition to utopian fiction. In addition, Neville's employment and foregrounding of racial and colonial intentions will be discussed to see how these modern discourses gave shape and directed the genre of British utopia as an apology for the republic and commonwealth as the requirement of an age with a disturbed political face.