Status
Available
Publication
Independently published (2019), 126 pages
Description
A must-read for fans of utopian science fiction, Herland describes a society comprised solely of female inhabitants. The residents of the isolated community have perfected a form of asexual reproduction, and have constructed a society that is free from all of the ills associated with Western culture, including war, strife, conflict, cruelty, and even pollution. Written by renowned feminist thinker Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland is a thought-provoking and entertaining novel that will engage male and female readers alike.
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Media reviews
Charlotte Perkins Gilmans Sozialutopie "Herland" ist ein reines Lehrstück. Die Figuren sind nicht plastisch gezeichnet, auch die Umgebung bleibt seltsam farblos. Es geht der Autorin offensichtlich vor allem darum, aufzuzeigen, welche Möglichkeiten in der weiblichen Hälfte der Menschheit stecken.
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Deshalb bleibt eine schwarz/weiß, gut/böse Einteilung nicht aus. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member The_Hibernator
On an exploratory trip in "savage" lands, three young American men find a country composed entirely of women. As these men learn about the history and culture of Herland, they are at first dismayed but later impressed at the asexuality and absolute social perfection of these women. For the first
I'm having a really hard time deciding what to think about Herland. I tend to prefer plot-driven novels, or at the very least character-driven novels. Herland was neither plot- nor character-driven...it was concept driven. Gilman was trying to convey a set of principles using an allegorical dialog. Gilman felt that women are subjugated by their sexuality. Because their economic happiness depends on their ability to attract men, they resort to jealousies and obsessions with fripperies. In Herland, there are no men...therefore they do not depend upon their sexuality to land them a desirable place in life--they depend only upon hard work and virtue. Since there are no men, they have no reason to be jealous, catty, gossipy, or hysterical. Thus, they are perfect.
For the most part, I did not enjoy reading Herland. I found the dialog grating due to the sickening perfection of the women and the irksome sexism of the men. The men's characters were very flat--their purpose was simply to present a contrast to the perfection of Herland. The three men came in three stereotypical varieties: gentlemanly to the point of sexism, brutishly sexist, and imperfect-but-somewhat-objective observer. Other than these characteristics, the men had no personality at all. The women also lacked character partly due to their obnoxious perfection, but also due to their nature as a social "we" instead of being unique individuals. In other words, the perfection and socialism merged them into one character with many names (with the slight exception of Alima who brought Terry's brutish behavior on herself by having a "far-descended atavistic trace of the more marked femaleness, never apparent till Terry called it out.")
I think Herland was an interesting thought experiment, but I personally didn't enjoy reading it. If your'e interested in concept-driven allegories, especially feminist and socialist allegories, then this is the book for you.
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time, they notice the flaws in their own society and feel ashamed. I'm having a really hard time deciding what to think about Herland. I tend to prefer plot-driven novels, or at the very least character-driven novels. Herland was neither plot- nor character-driven...it was concept driven. Gilman was trying to convey a set of principles using an allegorical dialog. Gilman felt that women are subjugated by their sexuality. Because their economic happiness depends on their ability to attract men, they resort to jealousies and obsessions with fripperies. In Herland, there are no men...therefore they do not depend upon their sexuality to land them a desirable place in life--they depend only upon hard work and virtue. Since there are no men, they have no reason to be jealous, catty, gossipy, or hysterical. Thus, they are perfect.
For the most part, I did not enjoy reading Herland. I found the dialog grating due to the sickening perfection of the women and the irksome sexism of the men. The men's characters were very flat--their purpose was simply to present a contrast to the perfection of Herland. The three men came in three stereotypical varieties: gentlemanly to the point of sexism, brutishly sexist, and imperfect-but-somewhat-objective observer. Other than these characteristics, the men had no personality at all. The women also lacked character partly due to their obnoxious perfection, but also due to their nature as a social "we" instead of being unique individuals. In other words, the perfection and socialism merged them into one character with many names (with the slight exception of Alima who brought Terry's brutish behavior on herself by having a "far-descended atavistic trace of the more marked femaleness, never apparent till Terry called it out.")
I think Herland was an interesting thought experiment, but I personally didn't enjoy reading it. If your'e interested in concept-driven allegories, especially feminist and socialist allegories, then this is the book for you.
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LibraryThing member the_awesome_opossum
Herland is a small, inaccessible utopia of about three million women, who live without men entirely. They have children by parthenogenesis, and devote themselves to making a perfect environment for these beloved children. Unfortunately, one day their society is disrupted by three British students,
Herland is filled with strong and capable women, and the men from our own society, full of chivalrous but patronizing notions of women, have a difficult time acclimating. Gilman discusses women's roles in society, contrasting the utopia of Herland to our own rather shameful existence in comparison. And although this book was written nearly a century ago, some of it still struck a bit too close to home for how we perceive and act out gender differences. It's a very small and unassuming book, but full of a lot of thoughtful and still-relevant ideas on feminism
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who heard about the society second-hand and had to see it for themselves.Herland is filled with strong and capable women, and the men from our own society, full of chivalrous but patronizing notions of women, have a difficult time acclimating. Gilman discusses women's roles in society, contrasting the utopia of Herland to our own rather shameful existence in comparison. And although this book was written nearly a century ago, some of it still struck a bit too close to home for how we perceive and act out gender differences. It's a very small and unassuming book, but full of a lot of thoughtful and still-relevant ideas on feminism
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LibraryThing member wandering_star
Early (Victorian) feminist sci-fi, in which three Victorian males discover a land which has been all-female for two thousand years. The three men have different preconceptions about women (one is a Lothario, another has an exaltedly idealistic view of the feminine), but none of them are expecting
I found this very amusing to start with. For example, the men are surprised when they meet large numbers of women who are in their forties - none of them had pictured anything but young and attractive women. I think that would probably be the same today.
But as the men discover more about the land, it becomes apparent that it is a place where everything is perfect - a paradise on earth. And then it started to get kind of boring. I was waiting for the moment when the dark side of it all was revealed... but it turned out there wasn't one.
So I would say this was an interesting historical document, but it was too overstated. Part of what Gilman was trying to say was that if women were allowed to, they could be full members of humanity and not just fluffy creatures who are only interested in flirtation and later children. I'd have been happy with that.
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what they find. I found this very amusing to start with. For example, the men are surprised when they meet large numbers of women who are in their forties - none of them had pictured anything but young and attractive women. I think that would probably be the same today.
But as the men discover more about the land, it becomes apparent that it is a place where everything is perfect - a paradise on earth. And then it started to get kind of boring. I was waiting for the moment when the dark side of it all was revealed... but it turned out there wasn't one.
So I would say this was an interesting historical document, but it was too overstated. Part of what Gilman was trying to say was that if women were allowed to, they could be full members of humanity and not just fluffy creatures who are only interested in flirtation and later children. I'd have been happy with that.
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LibraryThing member MeditationesMartini
Oh, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, if we were in Herland with six doughty Herlandians (Herlandettes? Herlanderinnen?) to help us, I never would have missed connecting with my friend tonight and waited around in the cold, or had a gun pulled on me on Friday, or fought with my girlfriend on the Great
No, I mean, you can't review this like a proper book, just because it's lived on in such a way that its reputation precedes it and you're unlikely to be approaching it without some foreknowledge of how silly it really is - Aristasia with less sexy times and consumerism and more weird big love for eugenics. But it is less devoid of literary merit than "The Sun Grows Cold," (which I think is still my lowest-rated book on this thing) and of course it's interesting to see the weird different way this eternal trope gets expressed by a WWI-era suffraggette as opposed to Thucydides or whoever first wrote about the Amazons - or, as mentioned above, the Aristasians (if I put it in twice maybe you'll google it and be as happy knowing these things exist as me). It was also somehow gratifying to know that Gilman's 1915 take on women as a whole, their development and destiny, was just as reductive as - indeed, identical to - mine at 19, in 1999. We truly have come a long way, baby.
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Wall, or developed a stomach problem, would I?No, I mean, you can't review this like a proper book, just because it's lived on in such a way that its reputation precedes it and you're unlikely to be approaching it without some foreknowledge of how silly it really is - Aristasia with less sexy times and consumerism and more weird big love for eugenics. But it is less devoid of literary merit than "The Sun Grows Cold," (which I think is still my lowest-rated book on this thing) and of course it's interesting to see the weird different way this eternal trope gets expressed by a WWI-era suffraggette as opposed to Thucydides or whoever first wrote about the Amazons - or, as mentioned above, the Aristasians (if I put it in twice maybe you'll google it and be as happy knowing these things exist as me). It was also somehow gratifying to know that Gilman's 1915 take on women as a whole, their development and destiny, was just as reductive as - indeed, identical to - mine at 19, in 1999. We truly have come a long way, baby.
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LibraryThing member chellerystick
This book is a little wooden and strange, not high fiction. However, there are two good reasons to read it: her view on what women were not allowed to do, and her development of three different kinds of men. Indeed, her description makes clear that gender norms limit men as well as women, although
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on average they still had more power and choices. Show Less
LibraryThing member kaelirenee
A rare modern Utopian novel in a world of dystopias. An interesting conversation on women's and men's roles at the turn of the century, especially considering it was written pre-Suffrage.
LibraryThing member tronella
So these three guys are exploring and hear rumours of a land entirely populated by women. They go there, learn that it is some kind of amazing utopia, and are sexist and creepy in a variety of ways! It was interesting to read, especially how the narrator seems to think of himself as being the most
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enlightened of the three guys and not being too sexist, but actually still being an idiot about pretty much everything. There isn't a whole lot of plot, and the whole miraculous parthenogenesis thing was a bit strange. I enjoyed it, though, I suppose. Show Less
LibraryThing member missizicks
Herland was a curious read. Perhaps if you're making a study of feminist literature over the past 100 years it might be something worth reading. As something fun to read, I'd say don't bother. Part treatise for Charlotte Perkins Gilman's vision for a feminist utopia, where for various reasons men
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no longer exist and women have evolved to reproduce by parthenogenesis, and part Boy's Own Adventure with a bizarre fixation on the usefulness of garments with many pockets, I was bored by most of it. I didn't share Gilman's ideal, particularly not one where there exists a form of eugenics that prevents those deemed 'unfit' from bearing children or, if they are permitted to reproduce, from raising their offspring in order to prevent their 'unfit' traits being normalised. In some ways the writing was quite clumsy and I had to remind myself of when it was written, how different women's lives were 100 years ago, and the broader point Gilman was trying to hammer home. In other ways, it was clever - the switch in perspective so that the three adventuring men who try to enter the matriarchal society have a similar experience to that of the women trying to break down the gender barriers of American patriarchal society at the time Gilman was writing, and the way they become increasingly fixed on their appearance as a way of asserting their masculinity, having been robbed, as they see it, of their natural male authority. Gilman did a reasonable job of inhabiting the minds of the male characters, even if they were a little broadly sketched. Terry is utterly unlikeable, a misogynist pig of the highest order. Van, the narrator, is a social scientist and therefore tries to approach everything rationally. Jeff is the eager to please, optimistic one, always looking for the good in everything, always trying to give people what he thinks they want. The men are like something out of a Ripping Yarn, though, and I wonder whether Gilman tried to create male characters that men would want to read, in the hope that her allegorical tale would then open their eyes to the lot of women. Some things left a bad taste - the eugenics I've mentioned, but also the attitude to people of different racial heritage, all described as savages, all portrayed as simple and child-like. I read up on Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Yeah. Bit of a white supremacist. It both horrifies and confuses me that people who see themselves as a minority in terms of gender or sexuality can still view the colour of their skin as a symbol of superiority. Even setting those misgivings aside, the book was preachy, blinkered and not to my taste. I am a feminist. I believe that all humans are equal and therefore women should have equal rights and equal access to the same opportunities in life as men, and should be judged on ability and not on looks or some twisted idea of what is or isn't feminine behaviour. I think Gilman believed that, too. Where she loses me in this book is in advocating for a world where equality is achieved by eliminating everyone who doesn't fit a central idea of perfection. Show Less
LibraryThing member sinki
Speculative fiction from the early 1900s, in which three men find an all-female utopia where all social ills have been eliminated. This novella is more an allegory than a story - its characters are broad archetypes and the plot is very straightforward.
Some of the ideas here are so quaint and
But the broadly feminist message that women are humans, as capable and valuable as men, is well elaborated, and it's an interesting illustration of early feminist thought.
Some of the ideas here are so quaint and
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of-their-time that it comes across as naive: that in the absence of men there would be no conflict, no-one would experience sexual desire, and women would be obsessively devoted to Motherhood. Also worth noting, there are some nasty 'race purity' and 'civilisation v savages' undertones that crop up a few times. But the broadly feminist message that women are humans, as capable and valuable as men, is well elaborated, and it's an interesting illustration of early feminist thought.
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LibraryThing member isabelx
"If they were only younger," he muttered between his teeth. "What on earth is a fellow to say to a regiment of old Colonels like this?"
In all our discussions and speculations we had always unconsciously assumed that the women, whatever else they might be, would be young. Most men do think that
"Woman" in the abstract is young, and, we assume, charming. As they get older they pass off the stage, somehow, into private ownership mostly, or out of it altogether. But these good ladies were very much on the stage, and yet any one of them might have been a grandmother.
We looked for nervousness—there was none.
For terror, perhaps—there was none.
For uneasiness, for curiosity, for excitement—and all we saw was what might have been a vigilance committee of women doctors, as cool as cucumbers, and evidently meaning to take us to task for being there.
Herland could have been quite dull if the dreadful Terry hadn't been there to provide some humour.
In all our discussions and speculations we had always unconsciously assumed that the women, whatever else they might be, would be young. Most men do think that
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way, I fancy."Woman" in the abstract is young, and, we assume, charming. As they get older they pass off the stage, somehow, into private ownership mostly, or out of it altogether. But these good ladies were very much on the stage, and yet any one of them might have been a grandmother.
We looked for nervousness—there was none.
For terror, perhaps—there was none.
For uneasiness, for curiosity, for excitement—and all we saw was what might have been a vigilance committee of women doctors, as cool as cucumbers, and evidently meaning to take us to task for being there.
Herland could have been quite dull if the dreadful Terry hadn't been there to provide some humour.
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LibraryThing member csweder
There is a lot to like about this book. First, it focuses on a society where women have been living together for thousands of years without war, poverty, jealousy, or disease. (And they somehow worked out the whole birth thing.)
What's more to love is how Gillman did it. The narrator is a man. A
The only thing I feel this book is missing is what Ellador felt when introduced to our 'civilized' world. That would be a good book, but strays from the points Gillman was trying to make about our society: boo paternalism, question religion, equal rights, war is bad, use your brain, capitalism is bad/socialism is good.
With all of those themes: me gusta.
What's more to love is how Gillman did it. The narrator is a man. A
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man who is recounting his beautiful year in Herland.The only thing I feel this book is missing is what Ellador felt when introduced to our 'civilized' world. That would be a good book, but strays from the points Gillman was trying to make about our society: boo paternalism, question religion, equal rights, war is bad, use your brain, capitalism is bad/socialism is good.
With all of those themes: me gusta.
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LibraryThing member sbloom42
I gave up on this book 3/4 of the way through it. It was far too didactic. Maybe it was enlightening for the time it was written, but from a 21st century perspective it just reads as condescending.
LibraryThing member book58lover
Although fiction, I used this book in my class when discussing utopias to point out how societies construct themselves and how members and outsiders react. Instead of falling apart like most utopian societies this one actually worked. It worked so well that outsiders couldn't understand it,
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couldn't break through their own ideas and experiences to truely experience it. Show Less
LibraryThing member stuart10er
This book grew on me slightly as I picked it into different levels. There is good work here - and a message to ponder. However, I find other elements in it that are horrifying - eugenics, superiourity of the Aryan race, 2 dimensional characters on all fronts. Basically this is a novel length
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political pamphlet. Three men discover a country entirely made up of women cut off from the rest of "civilization" for the last 2,000 years. They have a utopian (dystopian viewed now) society run and peopled entirely by women. Hilarity ensues. Not really - mostly staggeringly Rand-like soapboxing. Still the message has value, even if the vehicle is flawed. Show Less
LibraryThing member librarybrandy
I've loved Charlotte Perkins Gilman since the first time I read The Yellow Wallpaper, but this was actually the first work of hers I've read besides that. (My love was somewhat shallow.)
In light of The Yellow Wallpaper, and in particular Gilman's own time spent subjected to the "rest cure" favored
In light of The Yellow Wallpaper, and in particular Gilman's own time spent subjected to the "rest cure" favored
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by patriarchal, early-twentieth-century society (no surprise she left her doctor-husband who forced it on her, is it?), Herland is a pretty complicated book, examining gender roles and assumptions of what femininity is, through the eyes of three men. (The three men who found Herland are sort of a Goldilocks trio: this one is too brutish, this one is too sentimental/worshiping, and this one--the narrator--is Just Right, as he's the sociologist who sees the women as People, not Potential Conquests of Goddesses.) It does run to the preachy sometimes, with long passages of anthropological fascination with the women's culture, but overall, I really enjoyed this. I would have liked to see what happens once they leave Herland, but for that I need to track down the sequel. Show Less
LibraryThing member drachenbraut23
When I read the book I tried to keep in mind that this book was written by a radical feminist , at a time where women still were considered something like "second class". She saw that if society was to allow women the right of full "humanity", that the changes had to start at the root of society.
The story starts with three man trying to discover a society run entirely by woman. The first one is Terry, a rich womanizer, macho who truly believes women have to be subservient to man, and definately would never accept a woman as his equal. Still, a very strong general opinion of men during that time period. The second man is Jeff, the dreamer, very poetic, who idolizes women to the point, that he thinks women should not perform any physical or mental labor, and require to be sheltered at all times. The last guy in the lot is Vandyck a sociologist only interested in human activities.
Arriving in Herland they find nothing the way they expect it, they thought they will find a society of women who need to be civilized - in their opinion women can't be civilized without men showing them how to do it. But what do they find? A highly civilized world, run by well educated women, who managed to achieve a thriving all-female society through parthenogenic birth. A perfect world, where everyone is happy, everyone is educated at the same standard, no disease, a community with equal opportunies. Terry finds it impossible to adjust to this world and tries at every turn to dominate the women, he feels they are not women, they are to masculine, they have no right to be as they are, views them as objects without any substance to them, and that the Herland women are abnormal. Jeff settles in well and adores the women and sort of views them like prized goddesses. Vandyck is the only one of the three who enjoys this world and tries to learn as much as he can.
All in all, this was a very interesting read which explores the differences between a patriarchal and matriarchal society, trying to show the need for a balanced gender performance, demonstrating the importance of accepting women as equals. Considering that this is a very short book Perkins managed to get quite a few points across, aside from it being about feminism, it also discusses religion, the importance of democracy and socialism.
What I didn't like in the book was that some parts were very racist, for example the Herlander women developed a breeding programme to further the purity of their race. So, what does that say - was that her opinion? Or just something, she wanted to address racism with?
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These wishes (demands) have been, IMO, well reflected in Herland.The story starts with three man trying to discover a society run entirely by woman. The first one is Terry, a rich womanizer, macho who truly believes women have to be subservient to man, and definately would never accept a woman as his equal. Still, a very strong general opinion of men during that time period. The second man is Jeff, the dreamer, very poetic, who idolizes women to the point, that he thinks women should not perform any physical or mental labor, and require to be sheltered at all times. The last guy in the lot is Vandyck a sociologist only interested in human activities.
Arriving in Herland they find nothing the way they expect it, they thought they will find a society of women who need to be civilized - in their opinion women can't be civilized without men showing them how to do it. But what do they find? A highly civilized world, run by well educated women, who managed to achieve a thriving all-female society through parthenogenic birth. A perfect world, where everyone is happy, everyone is educated at the same standard, no disease, a community with equal opportunies. Terry finds it impossible to adjust to this world and tries at every turn to dominate the women, he feels they are not women, they are to masculine, they have no right to be as they are, views them as objects without any substance to them, and that the Herland women are abnormal. Jeff settles in well and adores the women and sort of views them like prized goddesses. Vandyck is the only one of the three who enjoys this world and tries to learn as much as he can.
All in all, this was a very interesting read which explores the differences between a patriarchal and matriarchal society, trying to show the need for a balanced gender performance, demonstrating the importance of accepting women as equals. Considering that this is a very short book Perkins managed to get quite a few points across, aside from it being about feminism, it also discusses religion, the importance of democracy and socialism.
What I didn't like in the book was that some parts were very racist, for example the Herlander women developed a breeding programme to further the purity of their race. So, what does that say - was that her opinion? Or just something, she wanted to address racism with?
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LibraryThing member nocto
This was written in 1915 and is an account of three male explorers discovering a land entirely composed of women. With no plot to speak of, and some dreadful writing, it's pretty much just an exposition of how lovely an all female world would be. I'd give it a miss if I were you!
LibraryThing member sturlington
Three male sexists discover an isolated country where only women live and have their assumptions about women challenged.
Herland is a utopia, and like all utopias, it is much more about ideas than plot. The three guys do make a pathetic attempt to escape at one point, but when that is foiled, they
Read in 2015 for the SFFCat Challenge.
Herland is a utopia, and like all utopias, it is much more about ideas than plot. The three guys do make a pathetic attempt to escape at one point, but when that is foiled, they
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settle down to learn about the religion, philosophy and other ideas espoused in Herland, and also to eventually get married. There are a lot of interesting ideas here, especially for the time in which it was written, such as on controlling reproduction and the place of religion in society. And sure, there are plenty of times I've daydreamed of living in a world without men. But there are problems with the all-female utopia that Gilman fails to address. For instance, in Herland the women all seem asexual, which seems to ignore a fundamental aspect of our nature in favor of combatting the sexual objectification of women. Also, there seems to be no conflict, which is difficult to imagine of any group of human beings living together, no matter what their gender. Finally, and most importantly, it's not practical. We must imagine ways women can achieve equality while still keeping men around, if only for the very practical reason that we are all one species who are all in this together--or at least, we should be. Still, I'd recommend Herland, a quick read, just for its historical value as an early work of feminism, even if does end avoid some of the more difficult questions and then ends rather abruptly.Read in 2015 for the SFFCat Challenge.
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LibraryThing member KRaySaulis
"Herland" is, in a way, timeless. Considering how long ago it was written the language and situations can be applied to the modern world quite easily. I've read a lot of reviews on here saying that it isn't relevent to today's world and I think anyone who feels that way isn't really understanding
The ending:
I took away a star because this book definitely could have been better. The language, though beautiful, was excessive at points. The foreshadowing suggested a much more climactic ending, and that just didn't happen.
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of the feminist movement and the rights women are still fighting for. We may no longer feel we belong to men, but there are most definitely still men on this planet who feel we do. The character of Terry - the womanizing, dominant male - can be found in every bar, club and office in the world. I tutor in my college and the treatment I recieved last week from a male I was tutoring was definitely reflective of the gender bias and discrimination that still exists, and the power of the male ego.The ending:
I took away a star because this book definitely could have been better. The language, though beautiful, was excessive at points. The foreshadowing suggested a much more climactic ending, and that just didn't happen.
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LibraryThing member edwinbcn
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was published in 1915. The setting of a lost matriarchal society, stumbled upon by a small expedition is strongly reminiscent of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The lost world, published just three years earlier in 1912.
Herland doesn't present much of a story or
Herland doesn't present much of a story or
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description of the environs. It is more of a social science fiction novel contrasting our world with a possible alternative reality, but as such the story is a bit boring. Show Less
LibraryThing member AmyMacEvilly
I read this for the Readercon Book Club, which I *finally* attended. I was surprised to find that another friend had read this in a Utopia/Dystopia class, but it is a utopia. The discussion pointed to the "lost world" genre as the form that Gilman was following/satirizing, esp. H. Rider Hagard's
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_She_. The discussion also drew a lot of connections between Gilman's own life and that in her Utopia. As with any utopia, the narrative is limited: it's really a work of ideas, and there are *a lot*. Gilman's Socialist, racist, sexual, and eugenic ideas are all present along with her feminist ones. It's intriguing that the culture that she imagines for Herland is centered around motherhood: instead of rejecting this role that women are limited to in our world, she amplifies it there. At the same time, she does away with sex and marriage: this is not a lesbian paradise. While she rejects some stereotypes of women, she engages in others. There are some really interesting critiques that are still relevant to contemporary American culture: the narrator describing our standard idea of feminity as simply "reflected masculinity" because it is defined by what appeals to the male is really intriguing. Show Less
LibraryThing member csweder
There is a lot to like about this book. First, it focuses on a society where women have been living together for thousands of years without war, poverty, jealousy, or disease. (And they somehow worked out the whole birth thing.)
What's more to love is how Gillman did it. The narrator is a man. A
The only thing I feel this book is missing is what Ellador felt when introduced to our 'civilized' world. That would be a good book, but strays from the points Gillman was trying to make about our society: boo paternalism, question religion, equal rights, war is bad, use your brain, capitalism is bad/socialism is good.
With all of those themes: me gusta.
What's more to love is how Gillman did it. The narrator is a man. A
Show More
man who is recounting his beautiful year in Herland.The only thing I feel this book is missing is what Ellador felt when introduced to our 'civilized' world. That would be a good book, but strays from the points Gillman was trying to make about our society: boo paternalism, question religion, equal rights, war is bad, use your brain, capitalism is bad/socialism is good.
With all of those themes: me gusta.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ScoLgo
A short book that took me a while to finish. Unfortunately, too much exposition reduced this to an average read at best. I'm glad to have experienced this classic of feminist fiction but I hope my next book features a bit more excitement.
LibraryThing member threadnsong
A classic of early feminist literature which pits late-Victorian-era men against a land full of women. These women have their own 2,000 year old history through parthenogenesis and seem to have solved all of society's problems.
The basic premise is a team of three "buddies" intentionally crash-land
The women they encounter are strong, agile, and full of questions about the culture and customs of the world outside Herland. What are the Mothers like in their world? How are children brought up? What are pets, and why are animals kept in the first place? How is food grown and distributed?
Each man is given a teacher, whom he eventually marries in a ceremony that is more for the men's benefit than for the women's. Alima chooses to marry Terry, Ellador the narrator, and Celis for Jeff. Which I suppose is an inevitable plotline of this book.
The impact that this book had on my worldview during my mid-20s is still ongoing. The idea that some women are better at raising children than a mother, a woman's body being strong along with her mind being inquisitive, and marriage being a bond between two equals are part of my adult foundations.
The basic premise is a team of three "buddies" intentionally crash-land
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their bi-plane near an undiscovered country, and each is a typical male: Terry the philanderer who sees all women as passive conquests; Jeff the anthropologist who worships all women; and the narrator who, well, is a narrator.The women they encounter are strong, agile, and full of questions about the culture and customs of the world outside Herland. What are the Mothers like in their world? How are children brought up? What are pets, and why are animals kept in the first place? How is food grown and distributed?
Each man is given a teacher, whom he eventually marries in a ceremony that is more for the men's benefit than for the women's. Alima chooses to marry Terry, Ellador the narrator, and Celis for Jeff. Which I suppose is an inevitable plotline of this book.
The impact that this book had on my worldview during my mid-20s is still ongoing. The idea that some women are better at raising children than a mother, a woman's body being strong along with her mind being inquisitive, and marriage being a bond between two equals are part of my adult foundations.
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LibraryThing member Fence
Imagine a world without men. A world where women are able to reproduce without men, where the only children born are female, and where motherhood is all important. Now imagine that you are a young man in the early 1900s who hears about legends of such a community. Terry, Van and Jeff are those
But exist it does, and they are taken in and learn all about this community that has been cut off from the rest of the world for over two thousand years.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, unfortunately it just didn’t quite do it for me. First of all the idealised Herland was just too perfect. I don’t believe that women are that perfect. And it was more of an anthropological study than a story. We spent the entire book learning about how Herland operated, and came into being.
Also I thought that Terry was just too horrible to be real. Even though I know that he isn’t, and that men who think like him still exist and most definitely did exist back in the 1900s. I just, well, I guess part of me doesn’t want to think that people can be so sexist.
I also objected to the prominence given to motherhood, as though that is all a woman should be interested in.
But a lot of my objections have more to do with the time it was written, and I have to be thankful for how far we have come. Of course we still have a long way to go, but better than we were, that’s for sure.
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young explorers who cannot believe that such a land as Herland could possibly exist.But exist it does, and they are taken in and learn all about this community that has been cut off from the rest of the world for over two thousand years.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, unfortunately it just didn’t quite do it for me. First of all the idealised Herland was just too perfect. I don’t believe that women are that perfect. And it was more of an anthropological study than a story. We spent the entire book learning about how Herland operated, and came into being.
Also I thought that Terry was just too horrible to be real. Even though I know that he isn’t, and that men who think like him still exist and most definitely did exist back in the 1900s. I just, well, I guess part of me doesn’t want to think that people can be so sexist.
I also objected to the prominence given to motherhood, as though that is all a woman should be interested in.
But a lot of my objections have more to do with the time it was written, and I have to be thankful for how far we have come. Of course we still have a long way to go, but better than we were, that’s for sure.
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Awards
The Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read (Science Fiction and Fantasy)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1915 (Engels)
1980 (Nederlands)
Physical description
9 inches
ISBN
1670032094 / 9781670032096