Between the “Not Yet” and the “And Yet”: On Perfect Worlds and Lost Cities

Utopian literature generates a tension between an abstract vision of a perfect world and the lifelike details that render that vision tangible. While such instrumental use of detail appears to align utopian form with realism, the resemblance is deceptive: in utopia, details gain meaning by pointing away from the present (“not yet”); in realism, they point toward it (“and yet”). I demonstrate how these conflicting modes of being and representation illuminate the fates of two couples portrayed in Wong Bik-wan’s (黃碧雲) short story, “Lost City” (失城). Set against the imminent 1997 Hong Kong handover, the story follows one couple’s pursuit of a better life via perpetual migration, a “blueprint” utopian project that ends in self-destruction. In contrast, another couple remains in the decaying city, their endurance of a flawed present yielding a quiet, post-utopian form of grace. Juxtaposing the two storylines, I suggest that meaningful engagement with historical forces may lie not in the utopian designs of a perfect future, but in the difficult, quotidian practice of inhabiting a world that is already lost.