Erewhon, or Over The Range

Erewhon, or Over The Range Synopsis

Erewhon:

• or, Over the Range is a novel by Samuel Butler which was first published anonymously in 1872. The title is also the name of a country, supposedly discovered by the protagonist. In the novel, it is not revealed where Erewhon is, but it is clear that it is a fictional country. Butler meant the title to be understood as the word "e
• nowhere"e
• backwards even though the letters "e
• h"e
• and "e
• w"e
• are transposed. The book is a satire on Victorian society.The first few chapters of the novel dealing with the discovery of Erewhon are in fact based on Butler's own experiences in New Zealand where, as a young man, he worked as a sheep farmer on Mesopotamia Station for about four years (1860-64), and explored parts of the interior of the South Island and which he wrote about in his A First Year in Canterbury Settlement (1863)