Erewhon is a biting satire which caused a sensation when it was first published anonymously in 1872 Erewhon, an anagram of'nowhere', is an unknown civilisation on the far side of a range of uncharted mountains in a remote colony of the British Empire. It is a form of anti-Utopia in which illness is a criminal offence, children choose their parents and health and beauty signify morality.Butler attacks ecclesiastical institutions and the moral hypocrisy of Victorian England with Swiftian wit and savagery,and the novel's elegance and humour offer the modern reader rich entertainment far beyond the merely academic.

The novel is a form of anti-Utopia where Higgs, the narrator (whose name was not actually revealed until the publication of the sequel,Erewhon Revisited, in 1901), discovers an unknown civilisation on the far side of a range of uncharted mountains in a remote colony. Erewhon has much in common with Buder"s England, and his witty portrayal of the mythical country conveys his criticism of the whole Victorian ethos in a manner that recalls Swift in the Lilliput of Gulliver"s Travels. With glorious and provocative irreverence, Butler attacks ecclesiastical institutions and the moral hypocrisy that he perceives in England in achapter called "Musical Banks". Social attitudes to crime are equally effectively satirised - in Erewhon illness is a criminal offence whilst health and beauty signify morality. The rearing of children under parental tyranny, which Butler also slated in his most influential novel,The Way of All Flesh, is lampooned by the Erewhonian "birth formule",the certificates issued at the birth of a child which decree that the "unborn" malevolently select their parents who have no choice in this matter, and so no responsibility for any of their children"s deficiencies.Erewhon is ruled by philosophers and "prophets" whom Higgs identifies as whimsical extremists. A hilarious chapter recounts the banningof the development of machinery after a civil war was waged on the grounds that human supremacy was being seriously jeopardised by machines.

Higgs commits the indictable offence of contracting measles, but tricks the Erewhonian authorities with talk of visiting the gods and escapes in an air-balloon with his beloved Arowhena. They eventually return to England by ship where Higgs plots the simultaneous conversion to Christianity and selling into slavery of the Erewhonian people. His outrageous moral justification of this plan reflects Buder"s deep contempt for religious sanctimony and the practice of slavetrading.

Waste Lands

In the Wool-shed

Up the River

The Saddle

The Raver and the Range

Into Erewbon

First Impressions

In Prison

To the Metropolis

Current Opinions

Some Erewhonian Trials

Malcontents

The Views of the Erewhonians Concerning Death

Mahaina

The Musical Banks

Arowhena

Ydgrun and the Ydgrunites

Birth Formulae

The Worm of the Unborn

What They Mean by It

The Colleges of Unreason

The Colleges of Unreason - continued

The Book of the Machines

The Machines - continued

The Machines - concluded

The Views of an Erewhonian Prophet Concerning the Rights of Animals

The Views of an Erewhonian Philosopher Concerning the Rights of Vegetables

Escape

Conclusion