Looking Back on Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, 2000-1887. (English)

This article first reconsiders whether Edward Bellamy's bestselling novel Looking Backward, 2000-1887 could be appraised as one of the modern global classics. The book became a bestseller as soon as it was published and was immediately translated into numerous foreign languages. The book has remained in print since 1888 when its first edition appeared, and it has long had a place on the core reading lists of university courses in the U.S. Furthermore, this book is currently included in the Penguin Book's Signet Classics Series and Oxford Classics of the World by Oxford University Press. By these standards, there should be no question that Looking Backward is one of the modern classics. And I could find the book has influenced so many social reform movements as a classic. The essay then asks how Bellamy came to write the book, and what differences it has made. Why did he offer a socialistic society as an alternative to contemporary capitalism? What were the detailed mechanisms of his utopian society? What is the value of the book as a classic that can still instmct individuals living in the 21st century? To solve these problems, the essay considers the principles and contents of the social system described in Looking Backward There have been many studies on the book and Bellamy's thought. Most scholars have linked Bellamy with Utopian literature, Populism, Socialism, Nationalist movements created by enthusiasts for the book, and the women's rights movement in the U.S. One of the best ways to understand this complicated legacy is a detailed rereading of Looking Backward. I think the core social system in the book was based on the Industrial Army. As most modern utopian novels proposed, Bellamy also invented his unique social system in which the benefits of the Industrial Army would be equally produced and distributed. He tried to solve contemporary social problems of production and distribution, organization of labor, working hours, isolation of labor, etc. through his novel. According to this study, I conclude that Bellamy emphasized the revival of republicanism which was one of the American political traditions, which was being replaced in his times by the laissez-faire capitalism. In this respect, I think the book is giving a lesson to us who are living in the age of New Liberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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