The following is a translation of Raymond Ruyer, L’Utopie et les utopies, Paris: P.U.F., 1950. p. 3-8.
Chapter One: The Utopian Genre
The word utopia comes from Thomas More who wrote Utopia in 1518. His Utopia is an imaginary island whose government has been founded by the Utopian king. U-topie signifies “no place,” and this title has been recreated several times: in the Nouvelles de Nulle part by Morris, in Erewhon (Nowhere) by Samuel Butler. One is tempted to conclude that the utopist does not claim to make us believe in what he recounts. In fact, if the utopist does not seek the same momentary and aesthetic genre of credibility as the novelist, he seeks nevertheless. He expects of his reader that they seriously and durably believe in the “possible” that he describes, even if the geographical framework is not convincing.
A utopia is the description of an imaginary world outside of our space or our time, or in any case, outside historical and geographical space and time. It is the description of a world constituted on principles different than those at work in the real world.
The novelist places imaginary personages and adventures in our world. Even if he believes in the fantastical or the magical, he respects the frameworks of the ordinary world.
Speculative Heresy 