Ecotopia Home
Ecotopia
Home
All Sections
Sustainability
Energy
Renewables
Technology
Transportation
Education
Interviews
Features
Editorials
People
EcoSage
Sponsors
Staff
About
Contact
Utopian Novel with Ecological Theme by Alex Shishin
by Alex S
People Making Connections

•• Nov. 17, 2006 •• SolarQuest® iNet News Service ••
Part of my 1994 Ph.D. dissertation for the Union Institute (now Union Institute
and University) is the ecologically centered utopian novel, Real Time: A
Japanese Utopian Romance
. The novel expresses my ongoing concerns
with ecology, human rights, and equalitarian social organization.

The novel’s first person narrator is a resident foreign in present-day Japan
who is abducted by Japanese from the year 2347. Thomas Redburn,
photographer, recovering alcoholic, and family man, is taken in a time
machine to a world where class, hierarchy and the centralized Stare have
vanished and all aspects of life are managed democratically at the grass roots
level. War and environmental pollution are unknown. Production for
economic profit no longer exists. Gone is artificial overproduction and
planned obsolescence. Environmentally friendly technology produces things
only for the sake of utility and pleasure. The “Time Collective,” wishing to
study a twentieth century person, has justified abducting Tom by
rationalizing that they have saved him from a fatal accident. They presume
he will be happy in their beautiful world, but they are wrong. He is lonesome
for his family and wants to go home to the past. An ironically unhappy man
in a perfect world, Thomas Redburn critically questions all aspects of what his
abductors and saviors call “Real Time.” In this way, he (and the reader) learns
the inner working of a liberated society that can live within its ecological
means and cheerfully prosper at the same time.

Currently the novel is available as <1>Real Time: A Japanese Utopian
Romance, and Scholarly Commentary by Alexander Shishin from UMI
Dissertation Services, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106; Tel:
1-800-521-0600 / 313-761-4700. A revised and undated version of the
novel is currently seeking a publisher.

Top iNet News Stories: All Sections
Introducing The Brobeck Solar Energy Debit Card
Investor Interest in Renewable Energy Sector Expands Globally
Consumers Continue to Demand Environmentally Friendly Cars and Automakers Respond with Electric, Plug-in Hybrids and Flex-Fuel ‘Green’ Vehicles
Utopian Novel with Ecological Theme by Alex Shishin
GetHydroPower Reports Nearly 2x Highway Mileage Boost in Recent Tests
InvestorIdeas.com™ Features Audio Blogs and Podcasts for Energy Investment Sectors
Last Chance to Participate in the Echolist Contest
Solar Homes Tours Demonstrate Energy Solutions
Cyberlux Products Meet California`s Title 24 Energy Efficiency Requirements
New Oil Projects Cannot Meet World Needs This Decade
Biomass Takes Center Stage in Renewable Energy Industry
Green Energy Resources, Inc. Encourages Recycling of Wood Waste Following Hurricane Charley, to Offset Damage Costs
New Energy Bill: Reducing Our Dependence on Foreign Oil
Post Carbon Institute
Decline in global oil production and rising energy demand calls for international energy policy
solar from small-scale up, not utility-scale down.
Shell cuts proven reserves of Oil
AEP Part of e7 Project To Construct Micro-Hydro Turbine in Bhutan
Affordable Hydrogen Successfully Powers Astris Fuel Cell
Experts to Assess World Oil Supply Limits
You are now viewing headlines 1 through 20.    Next >>


© 1998-2007 • EcoSage
contact info
e-mail