20th April Talk in Bristol at 2 p.m.: Poor Man's Heaven: the Land of Cokaygne and other utopian visions

Omasius Gorgut will speak on the Land of Cokaygne, the subject of his 2012
book, Poor Man's Heaven... and will possibly even play some utopian
songs...

Saturday 20th April, from 2.00

**please note that the time of this talk is 2.00, not 1.00 as previously given**

Venue:
Hydra Books,
34 Old Market,
Bristol,
BS2 0EZ

As part of the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair Radical History Zone

“We’ll eat all we please from ham and egg trees
that grow by a lake full of beer…
The landlord well take and tie to a stake
and we won’t have to work like a slave...

In the face of a life defined by exploitation and suffering, the poor of
the Middle Ages dreamed up a fantastical land where their sufferings were
reversed; where people lived in idleness and plenty and the rich were
barred.

In a popular song, The Land of Cokaygne, rivers ran with wine and milk,
the houses were made of pasties and tarts, and animals ran around cooked
and ready to eat.

From 14th-century Europe to 20th-century USA, this dream emerges in songs,
poems, folk tales. But it wasn’t just a popular fantasy – the dream was
linked to the culture and tensions of the times, and time and again rebels
and heretics tried to turn dream into reality…

Just one event in the excellent Radical History Zone at the Bristol
Anarchist Bookfair:

http://www.bristolanarchistbookfair.org/radical-history-zone-programme-for-the-bristol-anarchist-bookfair-2013/

http://www.bristolanarchistbookfair.org/2013-bookfair/