The island as figura utopiae

Translation in French follows in same document.Amerigo Vespucci' s voyages to what became known as America (in his honour) became widely known in Europe after two accounts attributed to him were published between 1502 and 1504. Thomas More, an English scholar interested in the pursuit of 'good governance', is struck by the promises of this brave new world. What Colombus had thought all along as Asia, is revealed by Amerigo to be a 4th continent. It was a large island - reported to be pristine, bountiful, peopled only by savages -waiting, tabula rasa like, to be colonized and crafted according to European whims. This excitement may explain much of the motivation behind More's Utopia. The original text was written in Latin over 1515-16. More also referred to the place in his letters as Nusquam(a) -which means "nowhere" or "nothingness". From this collusion, emerges the slippage between utopia meaning ideal, perfect; but also meaning imaginary, unreal.peer-reviewe