The Mother’s Laboratory: Review of Auroville, A City of Dreams

Chandra Clarke Under Review:Auroville: A City of Dreams. Katarzyna Boni, translated by Mark Ordon. Open Letter Books, July 2026. History is littered with attempts at utopian communities. Some end quickly and spectacularly, torn apart by strife. Others succeed for a while and then fade away as successive generations lose interest in the original premise. Of course, external factors always play a role, as humanity still struggles to accept differences between groups and individuals—whether in the religious and political hostility that drove the Mormons out of Nauvoo or the financial friction that doomed 19th-century Transcendentalist retreats like Brook Farm. Auroville is one such attempt at a utopian community. Founded in 1968 in the Puducherry territory of India by Mirra Alfassa (aka “The Mother”), it’s named after Sri Aurobindo, an Indian nationalist and philosopher, who was Alfassa’s mentor and collaborator. The goal of Auroville, according to The Mother, “is to realise Human…