LITR 5737 Literary & Historical Utopias

Thursday, 7 June: begin Herland (through chapter 6--through p. 72 in Pantheon edition)

Thursday, 7 June: begin Herland (through chapter 6--through p. 72 in Pantheon edition)

Discussion-starter: Fran Baines

Historical presentation: Oneida community / corporation—Tish Wallace

Web review: Charlotte Perkins Gilman sites on course webpage: Yvonne Hopkins

Monday, 11 June: conclude Herland

Historical presentation: Jo Lynn Sallee (open choice)

Discussion-starter: Brouke M. Rose-Carpenter

Web review: Ayn Rand sites on course webpage: Donny Wankan

Tuesday, 12 June: Anthem

Historical presentation: Brouke M. Rose-Carpenter (feminist utopias)

Discussion-starter: Tish Wallace

Thursday, 14 June: Anthem

Historical presentation: Amy Braselton: Islamic utopias or utopias gone too far

Roundtable discussion on midterms

Monday, 18 June: midterm

Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1860-1935--lived from Civil War to New Deal

niece of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin

--most familiar to recent English / Women's Studies majors as author of feminist classic The Yellow Wallpaper (1892)

Mostly self-employed and self-publishing sociologist / economist / social reformer concerned with women's issues.

Herland first appeared in 1915 in Perkins Gilman's magazine The Forerunner, 1909-1916

What's impressive about Perkins Gilman's style as well as the subject matter?

A woman-authored utopia! --> consequences for style, subject

Scenario: Three men visit "hidden valley" of all-woman society

Classic not just of "feminism" but of "gender studies"

How much is Herland about the men who visit it? What are their assumptions about women and civilization, etc.?

What conventions of utopian fiction continue?

("conventions" here means formulas, standard or stock elements)

Some changes in style and emphasis result, but what problems b/w "utopia" and "fiction" remain? (characterization, plot, etc.)

What surprises?

Millennial back-story to this utopia too

utopian novel as novel

2b. What problems of plot or narrative rise from a utopian vision that minimizes conflict and maximizes description or exposition of success and harmony? What genre variations derive from these problems with plot?

2c. What tensions rise between the author’s description of a social theory and the reader’s demand for a story?

Fran Baines

HERLAND

Charlotte Perkins Gilman Herland (1915) describes an isolated society comprised entirely of Aryan women who reproduce via parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction).  The result is an ideal social order, free of war, conflict and domination.  Gilman’s primary focus of her writing was the unequal status of women within the institution of marriage.

Questions to Think About:

1. What was Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s incentive to write this story? What goals did she hope it would accomplish?

2. Imbedded within Gilman’s utopia is her critique of the role and place of women in Western cultures.  What does Gilman see as the lot of women in her own society? How does that compare to the place of women in Herland?

3. According to Gilman, how did men outside of Herland gain control over women economically, socially, culturally, and sexually? How did the women of Herland avoid that fate? Do you agree with Gilman’s assessment of the origins of gender restrictions?

4. Is a narrative about race visible in Herland? What race are the women who live in Herland? Is there any racial difference? To what might you attribute Gilman’s treatment of race?

To Ponder:

Gender

Gilman possibly saying that gender is socially constructed rather than something definitive and unchangeable.  For example, the women of Herland are loving mothers, yet are also strong, independent, and, in some ways, have masculine qualities, such as having short hair.  Gender reversal is used throughout the novel:  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.

Aryan Separatism

Term used in the early 20^th century by European racial theorists who believed strongly in the division of humanity into biologically distinct races with differing characteristics; also defined as noble.

Separatist feminism

Form of feminism that does not support heterosexual relationships due to a belief that sexual disparities between men and women are irresolvable.

Sexism against males

·        The belief that one gender or sex is superior to or more valuable than the other;

·        Female chauvinism

·        The attitude of misandry (hatred of males);

·        A feeling of distrust towards the three males

Subduing of Women’s Humanity

Gilman shows that her society is unjust to women and does not allow them to achieve their full human potential…women can embrace the whole of life just as much as men, and the women of Herland---strong, intelligent, and self-reliant-are the fictional embodiment of this point.

Rationalism of Herland’s Society

Thanks to Herland’s isolated location and the extreme interdependence of its inhabitants, its members must put the community’s needs before their own; organized more as a family than state; each member happy to sacrifice for the greater good.

Rejection of Tradition

Jeff mentions that the men’s society is based on traditions thousands of years old; Moadine responds that Herland has no laws over one hundred years…laws and customs are subject to constant scrutiny and revision.  Laws meant to serve human needs in the present.

Sanctity of Motherhood

Each woman in Herland is allowed, with rare exception, to give birth only once, and she does not raise her child herself.  Instead, children are raised by specialists, as their education and nurturing are simply too important to society as a whole to be left in private hands.

Symbols

Well-Tended Forests

The useful, pleasant aspects of nature have been encouraged to flourish, and the aggressive, wasteful elements have been bred out.  The women have gently forced nature to cooperate.

Male Built Societies

Herland is void of poverty, war, and even garbage.

Important Quotations Explored

1. “They were not young…effort failed to overcome the fact that I was late to school” (19).
2. Terry “squared his broad shoulders and lifted his chest…(61).
3. “We soon grew to see that mother-love has more than one channel of expression (71).

Sources:

http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/herland.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herland_(novel)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heralnd_%28novel%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan

http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4817

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separatist_feminism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexism