New Atlantis

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1627

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Discussion Questions

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What are some of the religious symbols and motifs Bacon uses? What purpose do you believe these serve? And what do you make of the scholarly argument that Bacon’s use of Christian imagery is disingenuous?

How would you characterize Bensalem’s political system? Is it a religious monarchy? An authoritarian technocracy? Point to elements in the text that either simplify or complicate efforts to determine a unified political theory undergirding Bacon’s work.

How does Bensalem represent Bacon’s belief that science and religion, though separate, are not incongruous with one another?

In what ways does Bensalem differ from Europe in the 17th century when Bacon wrote New Atlantis? How does Bacon insert both implicit and explicit critiques of Europe into his text?

Do you believe the pillar of light that allegedly brought Christianity to Bensalem was an illusion fabricated by Salomon’s House? Why or why not? And what are the implications of each possibility?

What is the relationship between utopian fiction and colonialism? How does New Atlantis fall prey to Eurocentric ideas about imperialism? And does the book challenge any of those ideas, inadvertently or otherwise?

How does New Atlantis’s structure lend itself to conveying Bacon’s proposal for an ideal society? What roles do the narrator, the governor, Joabin, and the Father of Salomon’s House play in this structure? And do you find this structure effective in expressing philosophical ideas?