Known primarily for the section on Salomons House, the supposed blueprint for the Royal Society, New Atlantis is one of only two fictional texts written by Sir Francis Bacon (1563-1626), natural philosopher and statesman, and occupies a precarious position in his canon. While in many ways a “utopian” text similar to Andreae's Christianopolis (1619), Campanella's City of the Sun (1602; 1623) and More's Utopia (1516), to which it cheekily refers, it simultaneously subverts, manipulates and pulls itself clear of such generic bindings.
Appearing unheralded at the back of Sylva sylvarum (1626), a sort of compendium of natural historical experiments and observations published a few short months after Bacon's death, New Atlantis lacks definitive evidence of authorial intention. All material relating to the circumstances of its composition (scholarly estimations range from 1613 to 1625), publication, purpose...
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Citation: Langman, Pete. "New Atlantis". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 April 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3262, accessed 09 June 2026.]
