Utopia Had Canals. We Have the 485.

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:00:00 -0300

Lucas Ferreira Gandara Cabral e João Paulo Severo

The Subway of Fundão — A dialogue in the manner of Thomas More

It was a particularly hot April morning in 2026 in Rio de Janeiro. On Ilha do Fundão, the campus of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Professor Lucy Good Villages was hurrying between the bus stop and the Faculty of Letters, carrying a battered copy of Thomas More’s Utopia. That same morning, for reasons no one could quite explain, perhaps an early campaign move, perhaps genuine academic curiosity, Mayor Edward Peace was paying a visit to the campus. The two met under the meager shade of a tree beside the Technology Center.

Lady Bracknell and the Comedy of Self-Contradiction

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 01:50:00 -0300

Wilde’s humor works in a quiet way. He does not make his characters obviously ridiculous. Instead, he lets them speak seriously, and trusts the reader to notice when what they are saying does not quite add up.

The passage from Act II is a good example of this. Lady Bracknell says, in the space of a few sentences, that one should never speak badly of Society, that Algernon has nothing but debts, that she disapproves of marriages driven by money, and that she herself married without any fortune but never let that stop her. Then she gives her consent.

Literature on Bored Into a Trance

Utopia Had Canals. We Have the 485.

Lady Bracknell and the Comedy of Self-Contradiction