Revista de Letras - Utad

Two Perspectives of Euthanasia in English Literature… 213
and stitching is different. More and Huxley fashioned this cloth to their liking,
and true to the art of creators dazzled, shocked and set trends. Both of these
writers, who had started out as apprentices, would eventually become the
masters of their own creation. The debate of ideologies and practicalities, which
began in the mists of time, rages on, at least for the present. Our distant
ancestors chose different paths to tread upon and their many contributions
recorded in literature have enabled generations upon generations to travel that
much farther. It is the written word in its labyrinth-like nature that has allowed
us to contemplate different approaches to this most sticky debate that is
euthanasia. Ultimately, it is the individual that has to tell his tale and make his
choices whilst he stands at the crossroads of life. Perhaps, one day, he will be
able to look back and say with a sigh:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference. (Frost 1970: 96)
References
Bloch, Ernst (1959): The Principle of Hope. Trans. Neville Plaice, Stephen
Plaice and Paul Knight. Oxford: Blackwell.
Campbell, W. E. (1948): “The Utopia of Sir Thomas More.” Papers Read to the
Thomas More Society of London: The King’s Good Servant. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Carey, John (ed.) (1999): The Faber Book of Utopias. London: Faber.
Chambers, R. W. (1981): Thomas More. Sussex: Harvester P.
Eliav-Feldon, Miriam (1982): Realistic Utopias: The Ideal Imaginary Societies
of the Renaissance 1516-1630. Oxford: Oxford UP.
Frost, Robert (1970): “The Road not Taken”. In: Brindley, D. J.: The Turning
World. Cape: Rustica.
Graham, Gordon (2004): Eight Theories of Ethics. New York: Routledge.
Huxley, Aldous (1932): Brave New World. London: Chatto.
Kateb, George (1972): Utopia and Its Enemies. New York: Schocken Books.
More, Sir Thomas (1992): Utopia. (1515-1516) Ed. and trans. Robert M. Adams.
2nd ed. New York: Norton.
Roper, William (1978): The Life of Sir Thomas More. In: Sylvester, Richard S.
et. al. (eds) : Two Early Tudor Lives: The Life and Death of Cardinal
Wolsey by George Cavendish. The Life of Sir Thomas More by William
Roper. New Haven: Yale UP: 195-254.