Edward Bellamy
 Edward
Bellamy (March 26, 1850–May 22, 1898) was an American author, most famous
for his utopian novel set in the year 2000, Looking Backward, published in 1888.
Edward Bellamy was born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. He attended Union
College, but did not graduate. While there, he joined the Theta Chi Chapter of
the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. He studied law, but left the practice and
worked briefly in the newspaper industry in New York and in Springfield,
Massachusetts. He left journalism and devoted himself to literature, short
stories, and several novels. He married Emma Sanderson in 1882.
Edward Bellamy was the cousin of Francis Bellamy, most famous for creating the Pledge of
Allegiance to promote the sale of American flags.
His books include Dr. Heidenhoff's Process (1880), Miss Ludington's Sister
(1884), and The Duke of Stockbridge. His feeling of injustice in the economic
system lead him to write Looking Backward: 2000–1887.
According to Erich Fromm, Looking Backward is "one of the most remarkable books
ever published in America." It was the third largest bestseller of its time,
after Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It influenced a large
number of intellectuals, and appears by title in many of the major Marxist
writings of the day. "It is one of the few books ever published that created
almost immediately on its appearance a political mass movement." (Fromm, p vi).
165 "Bellamy Clubs" sprang up all over the United States for discussing and
propagating the book's ideas.
A short story "The Parable of the Water-Tank" from the book Equality, published
in 1897, was popular with a number of early American socialists. Less successful
than its prequel, Looking Backward, Equality continues the story of Julian West
as he adjusts to life in the future.
46 additional utopian novels were published in the US from 1887 to 1900, due to
the book's popularity, for example, William Morris', News from Nowhere.
Edward Bellamy died at his childhood home in Chicopee Falls at the age of 48 from
tuberculosis.
Selected Bibliography
Novels
- Dr. Heidenhoff's Process (1880)
- Miss Ludington's Sister (1884)
- Looking Backward, 2000-1887 (1888)
- Equality (1897)
- The Duke of Stockbridge (1900)
- Blindman's World and Other Stories (1984)
- Apparitions of Things to Come: Edward Bellamy's Tales of Mystery &
Imagination (1986)
Nonfiction
- Talks on Nationalism (1938)
- Selected Writings on Religion and Society (1955)
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