商品簡介
Imagine a society in which illness is prosecuted as wrongdoing, while criminal conduct is treated as a form of sickness. That unsettling reversal drives the satirical extract set in Erewhon, exposing familiar assumptions about morality, responsibility and social convention by turning them inside out. Told through a first-person account of the fictional country's customs, it invites scrutiny of the standards by which societies decide who deserves blame, punishment or sympathy. Beyond satire, the collection pursues a sustained argument about heredity, memory and evolution. Its critical prose examines the relationship between life and habit, challenges scientific ideas, and considers how unconscious memory may shape living beings across generations. An argumentative preface establishes a questioning tone, while commentary on scientific thought places competing explanations under direct examination. The writing repeatedly brings science and society into contact, asking how theories of human nature influence moral judgement and accepted belief. Fiction, essay, philosophical commentary and verse meet here without being forced into a continuous narrative. Reflections on travel and place broaden the range, while "A Psalm of Montreal" adds a poetic and satirical register to the volume's intellectual disputes. The shifts in form are integral to its method: social inversions test convention through imagined customs, critical passages confront arguments directly, and poetry sharpens the collection's sceptical voice. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.
