Review of Herland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1915)

A group of Edwardian explorers follow in the footsteps of Conan-Doyle's The Lost World and find something even more extraordinary than living dinosaurs - a functioning society made up entirely of women. 

Chosen because: on a 'blind date with a book' event, Cambridge City Library.

Preamps the only Edwardian novel which culminates with a woman kneeing her husband in the balls while the reader cheers her on, Herland is a science fiction novel with a difference. Written in 1915 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, best known for her gripping short story 'The Yellow Wallpaper', this novel takes a serio-comic look at contemporary attitudes to women.

Intrigued by rumours of a mysterious kingdom of women, three young Edwardian explorers follow in the footsteps of Conan-Doyle's famous trio, by flying their fragile plane up into an inaccessible mountain valley. Like the well -educated men they are, they know that such a thing is both biologically and socially impossible.When they see well built roads, and well engineered buildings, they know at once that there are some men somewhere in the society. How could women possibly design and build such structures eithout fallings out and cat fights? And yet, of course, this is indeed a Utopia entirely of women.

The novel rapidly turns into a series of discussions between the men, trying to justify the contemporary British and American ways of life, and the women, who repeatedly puncture their pretentions and pull apart their arguments. There are intriguing discussions of the importance of population control (the women choose to give up their ability to have babies in order to balance the population) and the role of education and upbringing (in this soicety, mothers do not necessarily bring up their children). The views of the women, which we might guess are similar to those of Gilman herself, are challenging, and can be read both in the historical context and in terms of Gilmans own troubled life experienced, particularly of motherhood (a short biography of the author is included in the edition that I read).

To be honest, the plot does flag about half way through (there's only so many discussions about how great the world would be with no men and no sex that I could take), with the exception of the excellent kneeing in the balls episode. However, for anyone interested in early 20th century writing, and pnarticulaty in gender roles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this is a must. It's also great to read something other than 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by this talented writer. And if you haven't read 'The Yellow Wallpaper', then go out and read it now.

Special kudos to Cambridge City Library for introducing me to this novel via their 'blind date with a book' event - in which readers were invited to take out a brown paper wrapped book, with only a brief description to guide your choice. The fun was of course in getting it home and unwrapping it. A great chance to pick a book without the normal structures of author, title and cover art.