Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland

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First serialized in Gilman's self-published magazine,

The Forerunner

,

Herland

has been praised as an important feminist utopian romance since its recovery and republication in 1979.

The novel begins with three male explorers discovering a lost civilization inhabited only by women who reproduce parthenogenetically. The men hold traditional views about the inferiority of women, opining that “there must be men” in Herland since it becomes apparent that they have arrived in a “civilized country”. Their conventional assumptions are quickly put to the test when they are captured and arrested by a group of Herlander women, who subdue the men with chloroform, undress them, and put them to bed. Since gender roles are nonexistent in Herland, the frame of reference through which the men have

312 words

Citation: Knight, Denise. "Herland". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4817, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4817 Herland 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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