Herland (novel)

Herland
Recent paperback edition by Signet Books
Author(s)	Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Utopian novel, Feminist science fiction
Publisher	The Forerunner (serial) & Pantheon Books (in book form)
Publication date	April 1979
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback), E-book, MP3
Pages	xxiv+146 pp
ISBN	0-394-73665-6
Preceded by	Moving the Mountain
Followed by	With Her in Ourland

Herland is a utopian novel from 1915, written by feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The book describes an isolated society composed entirely of women who reproduce via parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction). The result is an ideal social order, free of war, conflict and domination. It first appeared as a serial in Perkins Gilman's monthly magazine Forerunner a magazine edited and written by Perkins between 1909 and 1916. The book is the middle volume in Gilman's utopian trilogy; it was preceded by her Moving the Mountain (1911), and followed with a sequel, With Her in Ourland (1916). It was not published in book form until 1979.

Plot summary

The story is told from the perspective of Vandyk "Van" Jennings, a student of sociology who, along with two friends (Terry O. Nicholson and Jeff Margrave), forms an expedition party to explore an area of unchartered land where it is rumoured lives a society consisting entirely of women. The three friends do not really believe the rumours as they are unable to conceive of how human reproduction could occur without males. The men speculate about what a society of women would be like, each guessing differently based on the stereotype of women which he holds most dear, Jeff regarding women as things to be served and protected, Terry viewing them as things to be conquered and won.

When the explorers reach their destination, they proceed with caution, hiding the biplane they arrive in and trying to keep themselves hidden in the forests which border the land. They are quickly found by three young women who they realize are observing them from the treetops. After attempting to catch the girls with trickery, the men end up chasing the young women towards a town or village. The women outrun them easily and disappear among the houses, which, Van notes are exceptionally well made and attractive. After meeting the first inhabitants of this new land, which Van names Herland, the men proceed more cautiously, noting that the girls they met were strong, agile and completely unafraid. Their caution is warranted because as the men enter the town where the girls disappeared, they become surrounded by a large group of women who march them towards an official looking building. The three men attempt an escape but are swiftly and easily overpowered by the large group of women and eventually anesthetized.

The men awake to find themselves held captive in a fortress-like building. They are given comfortable living accommodations, clean clothes, and food. The women assign each man a tutor who teaches the men their language. Van makes many notes about the new country and people, commenting that everything from their clothing to their furniture seems to be made with the twin ideals of pragmatism and aesthetics given equal consideration. The women themselves appear intelligent and astute, unafraid and patient, with a notable lack of temper and seemingly limitless understanding for their captives. The women are keen to learn about the world outside and question the men eagerly about all manner of things. Often Van finds himself having difficulty justifying the practices of his own society such as the milking of cows, the keeping of dogs as pets, and abortion, when faced with the apparent utopia the women have managed to build.

After being held captive for a number of months the men break out of the fortress and escape cross-country to where they left their biplane. Finding it sewed inside a large fabric covering they are unable to get away and are resignedly recaptured by the women. They are treated well nonetheless and soon learn that they will be given a freer rein when they have mastered the women's language and proved they can be trusted. Van remarks upon Terry's personal difficulty in dealing with the women who steadfastly refuse to conform to his expectations of how women should act, though Jeff seems perfectly enamored of the women and their kindness.

Van gradually finds out more and more about the women's society, discovering that most of the men were killed 2,000 years ago when a volcanic eruption sealed off the only pass out of Herland. The remaining men were mostly slaves who killed the sons of their dead masters and the old women, intending to take over the land and the young women with it. The women fought back however and killed the slaves. After a period of hopelessness at the impending end of their race, cut-off from the rest of the world and without any men, one woman among the survivors became pregnant and bore a female child. Remarkably this happened a further four times. The five daughters of this woman also grew up to bear five daughters each. This process rapidly expanded their population and led to the exaltation of motherhood. Ever since that time the women had devoted themselves to improving their minds, working together and raising their children; the position of teacher being one of the most revered and respected positions in the land.

As the men are allowed more freedom, each strikes up a relationship with one of the women they had first seen upon their arrival, Van with the one called Ellador, Jeff with Celis, and Terry with Alima. Having had no men for 2,000 years the women apparently have no experience or cultural memory of romantic love or sexual intercourse. As such, the couples' budding relationships progress with some difficulty and much explanation. Terry in particular finds it hard to adjust to being in a relationship with a woman who is not a 'woman' in his terms. Eventually all three couples get 'married', although the women largely fail to see the point of such a thing and as they have no particular religions the ceremony is more pagan than Christian.

Their marriages cause the men much reflection, the women they married have no conception of what being a wife or being feminine entails (according to the outside world's views) and Van admits finding it frustrating and hard sometimes, though he is in the end grateful for his wonderful friendship with Ellador and the intense love he feels for her. Terry is not so wise and out of frustration attempts to rape Alima. After being forcefully restrained and once again anesthetized, Terry stands trial before the women and is ordered to return to his homeland.

Van realizes that he must accompany Terry home in the biplane and Ellador will not let him leave without her. In the end then, the three leave Herland with promises not to reveal it until Ellador has returned and such a plan has been fully discussed. Van tries to prepare Ellador for returning to his world but feels much trepidation about what she will find there.

Major themes

Gender and defining it is a central theme in Herland, and Gilman seems to be saying that gender is socially constructed rather than something definitive and unchangeable. For instance, the women of Herland are loving mothers, yet are also strong, independent, and, in some ways, have masculine (as the outside world would call them) qualities, such as having short hair. Jeff is in some ways feminine (again, in the outside world's definition of the word), as stated before, and out of the three male leads, seems least afraid of speaking his mind and showing his feelings. It is not unintentional that, when the three male characters are imprisoned by the Herlanders, their hair grows long, which Gilman does to symbolically link them to women kind. Throughout the novel, Gilman reverses the stereotypical gender roles: the women have short hair, the men have long hair; the women teach while the men learn; the women are physically stronger than the men, etc. Their is also a severe undercurrent of racism and praise for eugenics as Gilman Consistently refers to the people living to in the valleys below Herland as “savages” and presents no evidence to substantiate this claim, as for eugenics Gilman seems to believe that character “flaws” can be bred out of humanity as she repeatedly states that only the most virtuous women are allowed to enjoy the gift of maternity.

Literary significance and reception

“An important feminist work, long forgotten, and recently published for the first time in bookform.” – David Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction (1990)

Publication history

• December 1915, The Forerunner (magazine)
• April 1979, United States, Pantheon Books, ISBN 0-394-73665-6 (trade paperback)
• March 1986, Great Britain, The Women's Press, ISBN 0-7043-3840-8 (paperback)
• May 1992, Great Britain, The Women's Press, ISBN 0-7043-3840-8 (trade paperback)
• July 1992, United States, Signet Books, ISBN 0-451-52562-0 (paperback) collection: Herland and Selected Stories
• September 1998, United States, Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-40429-3 (trade paperback)
• November 2001, Great Britain, The Women's Press, ISBN 0-7043-4700-8 (trade paperback)
• June 2008, Canada, LibriVox, audio (MP3)
• June 2008, United States, Project Gutenberg, #32, ebook)

See also

• Mizora
• New Amazonia
• Separatist feminism
• Sultana's Dream
• Feminist science fiction

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Clute, John and Peter Nicholls. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1993 (2nd edition 1995). ISBN 0-312-13486-X.
• Pringle, David. The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction. London: Grafton Books, 1990. ISBN 0-246-13635-9.

External links

• Herland Electronic Text
• Herland at Project Gutenberg
• Herland publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database