And none of that literature comes from the actual majority poor who lived in those times. It always came from the elites, who justified the existing order by saying that people were 'content' even as those people worked from dawn till dusk to be able to eat bread.

Same goes today - some segments from the conservative elite beautify those times to history-ignorant masses, having those masses romanticize primitive lifestyles without knowing that if they lived then, their entire life would pass by trying to get and keep the basics of life. This even plagues some more educated segments over their environmentalist sensibilities.

Paul Gaugin fled to Haiti to live as a colonizing European all of whose needs were taken care of by the local servants thanks to his European status and the money he was able to make from his paintings.

Jack London, ditto.

Its all fun and games until you end up having to work like those locals to provide the food and the amenities that those who 'escaped the civilization' were enjoying due to their status and the toil of those who had to work.

What people mean with 'escaping civilization' generally portrays a desire for return to a romantic 19th century pastoralism. Without having to do the actual work of farming, milking the cows and tending to the herds and hauling your own sh*t every day...