Welcome to the second of our podcasts in 2024, as we are now riding the fourth wave of feminism, we look back at the literature of the early days of the movement when women were writing - and writing very well in Victorian times and at the outset of the 20th Century - but were neglected by the canon as time went on. In this new series, we will be considering some of the reasons behind that - including deliberate sabotage campaigns.
In this episode, we are looking at the utopian novel by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland (1915). This novel concerns the story of a feminist utopia and three men who embark on an expedition to discover this mysterious land populated entirely by women. The three men, Terry, Van and Jeff fly to explore this unique country in Terry’s plane. Terry is a wealthy, macho explorer who would describe himself as an alpha male. The different characters of the men are explored whilst they make discoveries about this island that is both populated and ruled entirely by women.
Unusually, the plot is not necessarily the most important aspect of this writing as it is an exploration of a wide range of ideas; patriarchy, feminism, power, environment, politics and many other sociological issues.
As a utopia, it invites comparison with our earlier episode of She Wrote Too in Sultana’s Dream by Rokeya Sahkawat Hossain - a novel which does not develop any men as characters.
About the auth
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) is probably best known for her short story The Yellow Wallpaper which tells the semi-autobiographical story of a woman suffering from severe post-natal depression, touching on psychosis. She is not a forgotten writer, but this particular novel rather lives in the shadow of The Yellow Wallpaper and we considered it was time that it was brought into the light.
Gilman had a turbulent early life with the departure of her father from the family, relative poverty and attendance at many different schools followed by a very mixed career which had, as its primary purpose, ways to bring in income - from soap-selling to illustration. She was a pragmatic, hard-working woman. Her talent and intelligence together with a little more of her family life and career are discussed in the podcast.
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