Charles Fourier by Michael C. Spencer (review)

284ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW In the poem from which the epigraph for this review was taken, "Angel Surrounded by Paysans," the angel says "... I am the necessary angel of earth,/Since, in my sight, you see the earth again."As this line suggests, it is sometimes necessary to have an able guide in order to see the very ground on which one stands. Michael Sexson serves as such a guide to Stevens's poems. In this lucid, valuable, eloquently written book, he uncovers the bedrock ofStevens's world — the archetypes which shaped his life and work. JAMES KARMON California State University, Chico Michael C. Spencer. Charles Fourier. Boston: Twayne Publishers, G.K. Hall, 1981. 184p. Professor Spencer has taken on the formidable task of explicating thesocial and psychological theories of the early nineteenth-century French thinker Charles Fourier through a study of the letter's immense, confusing, and fantastical literary works. The result is a lucid, balanced, and highly readable analysis ofFourier's basic ideas and ideals and of his place in the history of Utopian literature and the development of modern thought. Spencer reveals a sensitive awareness of the ambiguities latent in Fourier's philosophy and in its literary formulation, wherein there is a highly complicated interplay between lyric earnestness and ironic selfparody . Fourier is, of course, famous as the inventor of an ideal community called a "Phalanx." Unlike most other Utopias, the Phalanx has as its principle the free development of the passions and talents of the individual. In "Harmony," the social order of the future which will replace thedecadent present system of "Civilization," there will no longer be any conflict between the aspirations ofthe individual and the demands of the group. An important facet of Fourier's thought is his theory of education, reminiscent of Rousseau's Emile and a harbinger of modern concepts of progressive education. According to Fourier, the child's potential for productivity must be encouraged at a very early age in areas of activity for which the child has a natural inclination. Thus, upon entering adulthood, he or she (Fourier was a feminist) will be ready to contribute the maximum of useful and at the same time enjoyable work to society. Fourier emphasizes agricultural as opposed to industrial labors and the need for the serial alternation of different activities in order to prevent monotony, drudgery, and boredom. The rewards for productivity are equally enjoyable periods of leisure devoted to the unrestrained satisfaction of all sexual and gastronomic appetites. A special feature of Fourier's social philosophy is his desire to accommodate the eccentric, the sexual deviate, and the "maniac." The most perceptive dimension ofSpencer's study is his recognition of the poetic quality of Fourier's often outlandish imaginings. There is in the letter's writings a mystical current characteristic of French Romanticism and revealed in his effort to embrace the totality of materiel and spiritual being in a unified system. Spencer also explores the impact of Fourier's thought and style on more recent authors. He shows, for example, how Fourier announces Baudelaire and the Surrealists by his belief in universal analogy es well es modern linguistic theorists by his demonstration of the erbitrery nature of humen language. JAMES P. GILROY University of Denver ...