Stefano Saracino

Republikanische Träume Von Der Macht: Die Utopie Als Politische Sprache Im England Des 17. Jahrhunderts (Schriften Zur Politischen Kommunikation) (German Edition) Stefano Saracino German edition

English summary: During the English Revolution the concept of utopia became a part of everyday political language and was used in the rhetorical battles between political actors. Utopian language and utopian thought was no longer a prerogative of humanist scholars but infiltrated genres like political speeches and pamphlets, the newsbooks, religious and scientific treatises. Saracinos book analyzes these genres as well as the (in a stricter sense) utopian descriptions of fictional commonwealths, which flourished during the 1640s, 1650s and 1660s. The special emphasize lies on the use made of the utopian genre by authors and speakers with a republican commitment. In four case studies Saracino reconstructs the use of utopian textforms and utopian speech-acts during the Long Parliament, under Cromwell's rule, after the collaps of the protectorate and the restitution of parliamentary government in September 1659 and finally in the years after the Restoration of the Stuart-monarchy. The book tells the story of a symbiosis between utopian and republican political thought and political language, which led to varying outcomes, e.g. the construction of a republican tradition in the monarchically dominated political culture of early modern England, the satirical communication with rulers (like Cromwell oder Charles II) as well as the anticipation of the modern state. Saracino pleads for a three-dimensional understanding of utopia as a textform, as a practice as well as a speech-act and argues that utopian republicanism during the English Revolution as well as afterwarts oscillated between the opposition and apology of existing political power.

German description: Die Utopie wandert im England des 17. Jahrhunderts in die alltägliche politische Sprache und ist als Begriff, als Textgattung, aber auch in der politischen Kommunikation sehr präsent. Saracinos ideen- und kommunikationsgeschichtliche Studie untersucht die Verwendung der Utopie bei Autoren und Sprechakteuren, die dem Republikanismus nahestanden, nimmt aber auch die Restaurationsutopien in den Blick, die in den 1660er Jahren der Stuart-Herrschaft das Wort redeten. Neben den an Morus' »Utopia« angelehnten utopischen Beschreibungen fiktiver Gemeinwesen untersucht Saracino Quellengattungen wie politische Reden und Flugschriften, das Newsbook sowie religiöse und naturwissenschaftliche Traktate, die f|r die Analyse des politischen Kommunikationsraums der Utopie in Betracht kommen.