Trouble in Paradise

Misbehaviour and Disbelief in The Isle of Pines

Abstract

Viewing utopias and histories as two sides of the same fantasy enables an interpretation of Henry Neville’s The Isle of Pines (1668) that reads it as both a caustic commentary on the problems inherent in monarchical government—especially when an absolute sovereign is dissolute—and a profoundly self-critical utopia. It is primarily through its complex and, at times, parodic inter- textuality with Exodus that this text offers an ironic commentary on the notion of paradise itself, a beguiling no-place, located in the dimmest recesses of the past, which continues to inspire blueprints for a better world.