Nozickian Meta-Utopianism and the Formation of the Minimal State in Ken MacLeod’s Fall Revolution Quartet

Ken MacLeod’s Fall Revolution quartet (1995–99) is widely known for its “polyphonic” style of utopia-building. In these works, MacLeod creates a space that welcomes all kinds of possible societies in which everyone can find their niche. He focuses his novels on two particular societies—Norlonto and New Mars, both libertarian anarchies. This article argues that in this quartet, MacLeod resorts to Robert Nozick’s conceptualization of “meta-utopianism” and “minimal state,” introducing not one true utopia, but a horizontal plane where all forms of social ideology are given their moment to be tested out. In this way, the Fall Revolution quartet is written against the political transition in the UK from the 1970s to the 1980s and then the 1990s—a critical response to the discourse of historical exhaustion and the lingering influence of Thatcherism.