The Diothas
Encyclopedia
The Diothas; or, A Far Look Ahead is a 1883
utopian novel
written by John Macnie and published using the pseudonym "Ismar Thiusen". The Diothas has been called "perhaps the second most important American nineteenth-century ideal society" after Edward Bellamy
's Looking Backward
(1888
).
, and wakes up in the far future; he has suddenly passed "from the nineteenth to the ninety-sixth century...." In the company of a friend and guide named Utis Estai, the narrator begins to learn the nature of this future world. He is introduced to the massive city of "Nuiore," the future development of New York City
; and he travels with his guide to Utis's home in the suburbs. He learns from Utis and others about the structure and institutions of this future society.
" movement).
At one point in The Diothas, the narrator meets an elderly astronomer who has developed a "calculating machine" that can draw geometric figures, and can also begin with a geometric curve and then display the formula it represents—tasks done by modern computers and computer graphics.
Macnie's future has progressive, egalitarian, and semi-socialist elements. The genders have fairly similar rights (though only males have to perform a type of national service). Some gender roles persist;
all men are given some training in law, and all women in medicine.
The majority of scientists are male, the majority of artists are female. Yet women inventors have been primarily responsible for the development of varzeo and lizeo ("far-seeing" and "live-seeing")—that is, television and motion pictures.
Women do domestic laundry and cooking—but communally. The average work day is three hours long; people devote their abundant leisure time to the arts and sciences and to further education. A form of capitalism exists, though there are limits on inherited wealth. Workers in business enterprises are often shareholders also.
Macnie does envision a significant element of Puritanism in his future society, with Prohibition
of alcohol and laws against marital infidelity. The author's conservative opinions are partly represented by his future. He condemns the authors Victor Hugo
and Charles Dickens
as "maudlin sympathizers with crime...." He even includes in his future the old Roman practice in which "the father had unquestioned power of life and death over his children."
has devolved into "Uespa," St. Louis
into "Salu," and Buffalo
into "Falo.") Utis treats Thiusen rather like a psychiatric patient; Utis humors his friend's delusion and explains the features of their world, as a kind of therapy meant to restore Thiusen to his proper wits.
Once Thiusen and Reva Diotha are matched as a couple, they interpret his situation in terms of reincarnation
.
In the end, however, Thiusen returns to the nineteenth century, after an accidental plunge over Niagara Falls
. There, he is united with Edith Alston, the womwn he loves.
Macnie himself believed that Bellamy had introduced too many elements of The Diothas into his later book. Once Looking Backward proved a great best-seller after its 1888 publication, Macnie and his publisher released a second edition of their 1883 book, re-titling it Looking Forward; or, The Diothas (1890
). Unfortunately, Macnie was then criticized for "plagiarizing" Bellamy's better-known work. Macnie's book tended to be confused among the many sequels and responses to Looking Backward.
There is an obvious and major difference between the two works. Bellamy set his story in the near future, and suggested a program for realizing the changes he predicted and advocated. Macnie's plot is set so many "chiliads" in the future that no program for achieving his utopia could seem feasible.
(1881
). This science-fiction novella was printed anonymously in New Zealand
, and is extremely rare; it now exists only in a single copy in a library in Wellington
. Yet despite the obscurity of The Great Romance, Macnie may have known of it; he makes his hero in The Diothas a native of "Maoria," the New Zealand of his future. All three of these stories share common features.
; he received an honorary M.A. degree from Yale University
in 1874. He was a professor at the University of North Dakota
for two decades; he was hired as professor of English, French, and German in 1886, and retired as professor of French and Spanish languages and literature during 1906. The University of North Dakota's Macnie Hall was named after him. Macnie published A Treatise on the Theory and Solution of Algebraic Equations in 1876, and Elements of Geometry, Plain and Solid in 1895.
1883 in literature
The year 1883 in literature involved some significant new books.-New books:*Mary Elizabeth Braddon - Phantom Fortune*Rhoda Broughton - Belinda*Wilkie Collins - Heart and Science*Jonas Lie - Familien paa Gilje ...
utopian novel
Utopian and dystopian fiction
The utopia and its offshoot, the dystopia, are genres of literature that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal world, or utopia, as the setting for a novel. Dystopian fiction is the opposite: creation of a nightmare world, or dystopia...
written by John Macnie and published using the pseudonym "Ismar Thiusen". The Diothas has been called "perhaps the second most important American nineteenth-century ideal society" after Edward Bellamy
Edward Bellamy
Edward Bellamy was an American author and socialist, most famous for his utopian novel, Looking Backward, set in the year 2000. He was a very influential writer during the Gilded Age of United States history.-Early life:...
's Looking Backward
Looking Backward
Looking Backward: 2000-1887 is a utopian science fiction novel by Edward Bellamy, a lawyer and writer from western Massachusetts; it was first published in 1887...
(1888
1888 in literature
The year 1888 in literature involved some significant new books.-New books:*Grant Allen - The Devil's Die**The White Man's Foot*Edward Bellamy - Looking Backward*Rolf Boldrewood - Robbery Under Arms...
).
Synopsis
The novel begins with a scene in which the first-person narrator undergoes an episode of "mesmerism," or hypnosisHypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
, and wakes up in the far future; he has suddenly passed "from the nineteenth to the ninety-sixth century...." In the company of a friend and guide named Utis Estai, the narrator begins to learn the nature of this future world. He is introduced to the massive city of "Nuiore," the future development of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
; and he travels with his guide to Utis's home in the suburbs. He learns from Utis and others about the structure and institutions of this future society.
The social and technological
The book concentrates most of its attention on the social and technological advances of the ninety-sixth century; and some of Macnie's forecasts and predictions are notably prescient. The one most often cited in criticism and commentary is Macnie's prediction that the paved roads of the future will have white lines running down their centers to divide the traffic flow. Macnie also forecasts advances in communication, with a global telephone network, and recorded lectures by college professors, among other developments that have come to pass in the ensuing centuries. Some of Macnie's anticipations are more characteristic of the early twenty-first century, like electric cars, and rooftop gardens on public and private buildings (a feature of the modern "green buildingGreen building
Green building refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition...
" movement).
At one point in The Diothas, the narrator meets an elderly astronomer who has developed a "calculating machine" that can draw geometric figures, and can also begin with a geometric curve and then display the formula it represents—tasks done by modern computers and computer graphics.
Macnie's future has progressive, egalitarian, and semi-socialist elements. The genders have fairly similar rights (though only males have to perform a type of national service). Some gender roles persist;
all men are given some training in law, and all women in medicine.
The majority of scientists are male, the majority of artists are female. Yet women inventors have been primarily responsible for the development of varzeo and lizeo ("far-seeing" and "live-seeing")—that is, television and motion pictures.
Women do domestic laundry and cooking—but communally. The average work day is three hours long; people devote their abundant leisure time to the arts and sciences and to further education. A form of capitalism exists, though there are limits on inherited wealth. Workers in business enterprises are often shareholders also.
Macnie does envision a significant element of Puritanism in his future society, with Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
of alcohol and laws against marital infidelity. The author's conservative opinions are partly represented by his future. He condemns the authors Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
and Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
as "maudlin sympathizers with crime...." He even includes in his future the old Roman practice in which "the father had unquestioned power of life and death over his children."
The personal
There are personal aspects to the novel as well: the narrator meets and becomes enamored of a young woman named Reva Diotha. (She and her female relatives are "the Diothas" of the title). Cleverly, Macnie complicates the frame of his narrative: the narrator is, in his own perception, a time-traveller from the nineteenth century—but he is known by the other characters as a friend and relative named Ismar Thiusen who has developed a mental illness, and who has the delusion that he is a time-traveller from the nineteenth century. (The narrator arrives in the 96th century able to speak its altered English language, in which the name of West PointWest Point, New York
West Point is a federal military reservation established by President of the United States Thomas Jefferson in 1802. It is a census-designated place located in Town of Highlands in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 7,138 at the 2000 census...
has devolved into "Uespa," St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
into "Salu," and Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
into "Falo.") Utis treats Thiusen rather like a psychiatric patient; Utis humors his friend's delusion and explains the features of their world, as a kind of therapy meant to restore Thiusen to his proper wits.
Once Thiusen and Reva Diotha are matched as a couple, they interpret his situation in terms of reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
.
In the end, however, Thiusen returns to the nineteenth century, after an accidental plunge over Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
. There, he is united with Edith Alston, the womwn he loves.
And Looking Backward
It has long been recognized that a relationship exists between Macnie's Diothas and Bellamy's Looking Backward. Both books send their first-person protagonists to the future via hypnotism; both protagonists were, in their own time, enamored of a woman named Edith; and each becomes enamored of a future descendant of his Edith. Both novels predict similar technological developments. Macnie and Bellamy are known to have corresponded about their ideas prior to the publication of their books. In the concluding chapter of The Diothas, Edward Bellamy is the figure identified as "E—."Macnie himself believed that Bellamy had introduced too many elements of The Diothas into his later book. Once Looking Backward proved a great best-seller after its 1888 publication, Macnie and his publisher released a second edition of their 1883 book, re-titling it Looking Forward; or, The Diothas (1890
1890 in literature
The year 1890 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* Bram Stoker begins work on Dracula.*Arthur Morrison joins the staff of the Evening Globe newspaper.-New books:*Rolf Boldrewood - The Squatter's Dream...
). Unfortunately, Macnie was then criticized for "plagiarizing" Bellamy's better-known work. Macnie's book tended to be confused among the many sequels and responses to Looking Backward.
There is an obvious and major difference between the two works. Bellamy set his story in the near future, and suggested a program for realizing the changes he predicted and advocated. Macnie's plot is set so many "chiliads" in the future that no program for achieving his utopia could seem feasible.
And The Great Romance
The relationship between The Diothas and Looking Backward is complicated by another prior work, The Great RomanceThe Great Romance
The Great Romance is a science fiction and Utopian novel, first published in New Zealand in 1881. It had a significant influence on Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, the most popular Utopian novel of the late nineteenth century.-The book:...
(1881
1881 in literature
The year 1881 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* March 4 - A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story, begins.* The first of the three-volume History of Woman Suffrage, was published by Susan B...
). This science-fiction novella was printed anonymously in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and is extremely rare; it now exists only in a single copy in a library in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
. Yet despite the obscurity of The Great Romance, Macnie may have known of it; he makes his hero in The Diothas a native of "Maoria," the New Zealand of his future. All three of these stories share common features.
The author
John Macnie (1836–1909) was born in Scotland, and educated at the University of GlasgowUniversity of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
; he received an honorary M.A. degree from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1874. He was a professor at the University of North Dakota
University of North Dakota
The University of North Dakota is a public university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA. Established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of North Dakota, UND is the oldest and largest university in the state and enrolls over 14,000 students. ...
for two decades; he was hired as professor of English, French, and German in 1886, and retired as professor of French and Spanish languages and literature during 1906. The University of North Dakota's Macnie Hall was named after him. Macnie published A Treatise on the Theory and Solution of Algebraic Equations in 1876, and Elements of Geometry, Plain and Solid in 1895.