A Deconstructive Study Of New Atlantis

Francis Bacon was a British philosopher, thinker, scientist and essayist in the 17 th century and honored with “the United Kingdom of materialism and the true ancestor of modern experimental science” by Marx. New Atlantis was written by Bacon in his declining years, and it mainly described a scientific heaven: Salomon’s House was the most important scientific research institution in Bensalem. Science and technology became the leading power to develop society, and their development brought political stability and social prosperity. Bensalem possessed abundant material wealth,incorruptible officials and happy residents. Bensalem was a country in which everyone was equal and there was no exploitation and oppression. Hence, New Atlantis was regarded as a “scientific utopian novel”. Though science played a very important role in Bensalem, the influence of religion could not be neglected. Science was the main force in developing society, but its development couldn’t be equal to the development of the society: science could solve some problems but not all problems; science also created all kinds of problems when solving problems.Traditional Western thought was generally based on binary oppositions, and what deconstruction wanted to subvert was the logocentrism of Western thought. The representatives of logocentrism held that the world consisted of binary oppositions, and in each pair of binary opposition, the former was always superior to the latter and in a more favorable position. Deconstruction overthrew the relation between the former and the latter and subverted “centrism” proposed by structuralism. Utopia and anti-utopia,science and religion are two binary oppositions the thesis will analyze. Generally speaking, the source of utopia was chiefly out of some writers’ dissatisfaction with their societies, and they imagined an ideal but unattainable country so as to relieve their emotions. The fierce attacks upon the society and the unattainability of the utopia were two characteristics utopian novels had in content and form. In the New Atlantis, no attacks could be found. Though some scientific experiments conducted by Salomon’s House seemed to be impossible at that time, many scientific discoveries and inventions have been widely verified and used in our daily life. The analysis of content and form of the novel deconstructs its “utopian nature”. Salomon’s House was the noblest institution and the beacon of Bensalem, and it naturally became the predominant power to dominate people’s belief. However, Bensalemite people were also pious Christians.They believed the existence of God and regarded the building of Salomon’s House asGod’s will. There were three kinds of love in Bible: God’s love, love for God and neighbors’ love, and three kinds of love could aptly interpret Bensalemite inhabitants’ piety towards religion in the novel. That those creatures were created by God, as far as Bensalemite inhabitants were concerned, could be regard as God’s love. The building of Salomon’s House could be considered as the love for God. The behavior Bensalemite inhabitants rescued European sailors could be deemed neighbors’ love. Besides, there were still a lot of symbols such as “cross”, “angel” and some religious names, which extensively revealed Bensalemite inhabitants’ piety towards religion. Meanwhile,Bensalemite inhabitants’ piety towards religion also deconstructs the “scientific nature”of the novel.Although New Atlantis is widely regarded as a “scientific utopian novel”, the theme and genre above totally subvert it, and it also indicates the instability of language and conveys complexity and contradiction of Bacon’s faith.