The Utopian Alternative. Fourierism in Nineteenth Century America by Carl J. Guarneri (review)

L ’E spr it C r éa teu r rigorous work on methodology and analytical frameworks. Utopian studies has to raise its theoretical game in the decades to come. V i n c e n t G e o g h e g a n Queen’s University, Belfast Carl J. Guarneri. T h e U t o p i a n A l t e r n a t i v e . F o u r i e r i s m in N i n e t e e n t h C e n t u r y A m e r i c a . Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1991. Pp. xvi + 525. Cloth $36.25. Charles Fourier (1772-1837) is both a most unforgettable and a most unread French philosopher. His immediate disciples censored his orgiastic conception of love; later admir­ ers were perplexed by his mathematical demonstrations. Although Surrealists like André Breton or Raymond Queneau and, later, the International Situationists, quoted him enthu­ siastically, his writings were more used as a rallying cry than as an object of meditation. Only in recent years, since the complete publication of his works, have his ideas aroused interest among a growing number of scholars. In the United States, his influence was enormous, to the degree that it is mentioned as the “ Fourierist phase” in the history of utopian communities. It was mediated—and cen­ sored—by such admirers as Albert Brisbane, Parke Godwin or the French Victor Con­ sidérant. But again, much of his work remained ignored, except perhaps by such indepen­ dent intellectuals as Stephen Pearl Andrews and his New York circle. Fascination with capitalism was too strong and also, among other reasons, because “ Associationists walked a tightrope on issues of love, marriage, and the family. . .” (353). Guarneri’s remarkable book uncovers a great deal of new historical information about the more obscure colonies as well as the better known. He demonstrates, for instance, that Emerson’s disavowal of Brook Farm can no longer be considered as the definitive judg­ ment about this community. In fact, the battle in which the American Fourierists were engaged expressed the divergent views of the period concerning the development of a capitalist society. In very lucid terms, Guarneri shows both the importance of the challenge brought by the “ Associationists” and the causes of their failure. Indeed, his synthesis of the multiple trends is remarkable, and his book will remain for a long time a reference work in the history of communal societies, comparable to the classic work of Arthur Bestor on the Owenites. The exposition of utopian ideas would probably have required a lengthier analysis. It would have been interesting to contrast Fourier’s views about American social structures with those more flattering to Tocqueville. Students of French literature would have also appreciated a comparison between Fourier’s version of romanticism and its American parallel. For instance, to write that “ Fourier had little appreciation for modern technol­ ogy” (125) is somewhat too brief. Indeed, Fourier, who condemned the degradation of nature by industry, considered that the technical progress of his age was going in the wrong direction because it was not set within the appropriate structure. Yet, in his Harmonial society, he would favor aerial transportation (“ des aérostats légers” ) and even telephones (“ la transmission miragique” ). But contemporary edition offers many limitations, including the number of pages in a book; it is the merit of the present one to open quite a number of new areas to our intellec­ tual appetites. R o n a l d C r e a g h Montpellier 132 Winter 1994 ...