Unwin, J D
Entry updated 28 October 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1895-1936) UK ethnologist, anthropologist and author, in active service during World War One, whose Hopousia: Or, the Sexual and Economic Foundations of a New Society (written 1935-1936; 1940) is a non-narrative Utopia where Sex is described as being made available through two forms of marriage: the monogamous alpha form entitles its adherents to accept responsibility for running the world; the polygamous beta form welcomes free love. Citizens can change from one marriage formula to the other. The rulers of the world are made free by this structure to focus on the maintenance of a sustainable state, where energy flows where needed, and returns. From this balance and restraint, Unwin argues, equity will flow, but his death before the book was finished abruptly truncated any summary argument. In his long introduction, Aldous Huxley recognizes this deficit while recognizing the importance of Unwin's "formulation of the sexual and economic conditions of social energy." [JC]
Joseph Daniel Unwin
born 6 December 1895
died London: August 1936
works (selected)
- Hopousia: Or, the Sexual and Economic Foundations of a New Society (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1940) [nonfiction: written 1935-1936: introduction by Aldous Huxley: hb/nonpictorial]
links
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