NOWHERE IS EVERWHERE : Utopia at the New York Public Library - exhibit of rare books, manuscripts, etchings, etc

Commonweal, Dec 1, 2000 by Elizabeth Kirkland Cahill

The American visitor may leave the exhibit--particularly in this curious election year--pondering what has become of the search for utopia. Of course perfection is unattainable (a fact More acknowledged in titling his work, which, through a pun on its Greek roots, means both "good place" and "no place"), but merely to engage in the quest seems something of a moral choice. Wrapped in the heavy mantle of materialism, captivated by the illusion of personal autonomy, do we even bother any longer to dream of a perfect society? The exhibit considers the possibility of a "cybertopia" in a Web site called Metaworlds. But there is a clue elsewhere, in one of the single most riveting items in the exhibit.

As you round a corner in Gottesman, you see them: two tall Plexiglas tubes, the documents inside seemingly suspended in midair. A light goes on, illuminating the strong, clear handwriting of Thomas Jefferson. It is a fair copy of the Declaration of Independence, one of three surviving copies penned by the optimistic visionary himself. No matter how many times you have seen it in a textbook, to view the document itself is profoundly moving, emblematic of the best the exhibit has to offer.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." While these words have not brought about utopia, they do serve as a salutary reminder of principle to those who carry the quest for utopia forward into the twenty-first century.

Elizabeth Kirkland Cahill is co-author, with Joseph Papp, of Shakespeare Alive! (Bantam).