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Herland
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Manufacturer: FQ Classics
Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Publisher: FQ Classics
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Our Price: $9.99
You Save: $ ( % )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: FQ Classics
Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Publisher: FQ Classics
Average Customer Rating:
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Herland Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781599866680
ISBN: 1599866684
Label: FQ Classics
Manufacturer: FQ Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 232
Publication Date: 2007-10-15
Publisher: FQ Classics
Studio: FQ Classics
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781599866680
ISBN: 1599866684
Label: FQ Classics
Manufacturer: FQ Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 232
Publication Date: 2007-10-15
Publisher: FQ Classics
Studio: FQ Classics
Editorial Review of Herland
Herland is an early 20th century utopian novel written by feminist author Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This novel is the story of a totally isolated society which is composed entirely of Aryan women that reproduce through parthenogenesis, or asexual reproduction. The result of this lifestyle and society is a social order which is free of conflict especially wat and free of domination. Herland is highly recommended for those who are interested in feminist and/or utopian novels and those who enjoy the writings of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Customer Reviews of Herland
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Where No Men Exist
Review: In her novel of a positive utopia made up only of women, Gilman gives us a vision of what perfection would be like, if only the inevitable power, money and sex did not get in the way of things. In Herland, there are no men thus eliminating the sex motivations. And they live a highly socialized communal life within which most of the problems of modern society have been conquered or mastered.
The ladies of Herland have been isolated from the rest of the world for about 2000 years and during the early part of that period all the men in their society were killed or died off. This left a society of women only. To go on, they developed the ability to have virgin births, (in the modern wild turkey this exists today and is called Parthenogenesis, where in the absence of male turkeys, they may produce eggs that turn into female chicks) through an unusual biological quirk. But all the offspring are women.
Throughout the book references and allusions to Edward Bellamy's famous positive utopia book "Looking Backwards" are evident. Yet Gilman's treatment of the topic is fresh and interesting in that the element of sex is removed from the utopian environment. In addition, the concept of the story is that 3 men happen to find the utopia and this allows Gilman to engage in a long discussion with those men and the women of Herland; comparing their worlds.
Interestingly, even though Gilman wrote the book in 1915, not much seems to have changed. There is still injustice, greed, hate, love, war, peace and poverty. The book is a virtual wake up call to all societies, especially the Western Developed countries that there are yet things to be done in this world.
The book is recommended to those who are interested in a vision of a better world. While Gilman's vision is an impossibility, as was Karl Marx vision of perfect Communism, nonetheless, it gives us a real reason to think on the bright side of life, as it may yet be possible to achieve.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Misunderstood
Review: Obviously, many people who read this book -- including most of the reviewers here -- clearly misunderstood Gilman's tone and objective in writing "Herland." The purpose of the book is NOT to say that women are better than men in every aspect of life, or that women can survive without men. Indeed, the inhabitants of Herland realize that without males, their society is incomplete, which is why the three young women are encouraged to court the three male visitors. Gilman portrays two of her three male characters sympathetically and intelligently, and even the chauvinistic one is portrayed as intelligent, just misguided.
Gilman has two purposes, neither of which is to show the 'inferiority' of men. One, she wishes to show what a society would be like if everyone were treated equally. Two, and related, she wishes to show what society were like if people put the greater good above their individual goals. In that sense, Gilman's society is not socialism but more like anarchism -- there IS no central government; Herland operates like a large utopian family, in which everyone's role is equal and everyone has a very important role in society. No one's role is more important than any others, be they male or female.
The reason for the Herlandians' physical besting of the men is to show that women are only 'weak' because they are sheltered, and in turn are sheltered because they are weak; also, while the Herlandians were natural women living in the natural world, the men are essentially 'sheltered' by technology (all of them being specialists in an area) and thus are not physically trained as the women are. It's like a female Olympic runner beating a male who runs for his college in his spare time.
Of course, the book has flaws -- the utopian society of course, is without chink or problem, and Gilman ironically venerates traditional aspects of women, casting them into the stereotype of communal, compassionate, sacrificial mothers. The veneration of 'motherhood' almost religiously is hypocritical, as if every woman desires to be a mother. Predictably, no woman in the history of Herland seems to have a problem with denying self for the greater good, or the lack of tradition, or the taking away of her own children for communal rearing. For that, I have to say that Gilman -- while trying to deconstruct the typical notion of a woman -- inadvertently BUILDS it by assuming that all women have these characteristics naturally.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Little Pre-Nazi Fairy Tale
Review: I can't believe all that is wrong with this book. If you really detest men and you haven't a clue how males think or how real societies operate, you might like this story. However, if you have even one foot in reality, you'll find it childish to the extreme.
Author's assumptions
1. Men are the root of all evil.
2. Anything men can do, women can do better (including writng utopian fantasies).
3. Men are unnatural, unnecessary, unattractive, unreformable, and unrepentant.
4. Sex should be non-existant.
5. Science and society works out just the way you want it. (See Kendal Hunter's prior review.)
6. The reader has boundless time to vest in useless novels.
It's important to keep in mind that the book and its ideas were coming into print just as the seeds of Nazism and Hitlerism were planted and being cultivated. Clearly the author's ideas would not have been out of place in that era of eugenics as a way to build an ideal society. Furthermore, in her book, the author glosses over a myriad of 'unpleasant' details fitting of a nazi utopia:
1. The book contains more than a hint of socialist Aryan one race, one ideal elitism.
2. Birth control (!!!) is hinted, which by definition must involve some form of abortion.
3. Capital punishment is hinted as this 'utopian' society's way of getting rid of undesirables.
4. Women would be identically featureless, classless, and (apparently) humorless. By definition, parthenogenesis is not unlike cloning at the ovum level, so all women would be identical, excepting mutants.
5. It left me wondering if even crying babies was too much to be tolerated in this society.
I struggle not to be too hard on a novel nearly a century old, a blueprint for a feminist, socialist utopia devoid of men and apparently anyone else unlike the author. If this were a book about a utopia about race, we would condemn it to purgatory. However, since it only trashes men, we 'liberal women' are expected to swallow it reflexively. Unless you are a woman who pulls out her vibrator whenever you think about killing off men, I can't imagine who the audience is expected to be or why this tale was resurrected.
A number of good science fiction authors have addressed this same topic with superior stories and I would recommend any one of them over this tale that should have remained buried in the trash heap of time.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: good service
Review: I got the book in a timely manner and it is in adequate shape
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: More bourgeoise dreck
Review: Poorly written, feminist drivel conceived by a callow, middle-class mind. It's interesting that despite Gilman's righteous call for equality, she couldn't help but think that utopias would be populated only by those of "good Aryan stock." Yet another sheltered, narrow-minded hypocrite who had no idea of how the world really works, a fool blind to the fact that women are just as wicked as men, just in different ways.
Review Summary: Where No Men Exist
Review: In her novel of a positive utopia made up only of women, Gilman gives us a vision of what perfection would be like, if only the inevitable power, money and sex did not get in the way of things. In Herland, there are no men thus eliminating the sex motivations. And they live a highly socialized communal life within which most of the problems of modern society have been conquered or mastered.
The ladies of Herland have been isolated from the rest of the world for about 2000 years and during the early part of that period all the men in their society were killed or died off. This left a society of women only. To go on, they developed the ability to have virgin births, (in the modern wild turkey this exists today and is called Parthenogenesis, where in the absence of male turkeys, they may produce eggs that turn into female chicks) through an unusual biological quirk. But all the offspring are women.
Throughout the book references and allusions to Edward Bellamy's famous positive utopia book "Looking Backwards" are evident. Yet Gilman's treatment of the topic is fresh and interesting in that the element of sex is removed from the utopian environment. In addition, the concept of the story is that 3 men happen to find the utopia and this allows Gilman to engage in a long discussion with those men and the women of Herland; comparing their worlds.
Interestingly, even though Gilman wrote the book in 1915, not much seems to have changed. There is still injustice, greed, hate, love, war, peace and poverty. The book is a virtual wake up call to all societies, especially the Western Developed countries that there are yet things to be done in this world.
The book is recommended to those who are interested in a vision of a better world. While Gilman's vision is an impossibility, as was Karl Marx vision of perfect Communism, nonetheless, it gives us a real reason to think on the bright side of life, as it may yet be possible to achieve.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Misunderstood
Review: Obviously, many people who read this book -- including most of the reviewers here -- clearly misunderstood Gilman's tone and objective in writing "Herland." The purpose of the book is NOT to say that women are better than men in every aspect of life, or that women can survive without men. Indeed, the inhabitants of Herland realize that without males, their society is incomplete, which is why the three young women are encouraged to court the three male visitors. Gilman portrays two of her three male characters sympathetically and intelligently, and even the chauvinistic one is portrayed as intelligent, just misguided.
Gilman has two purposes, neither of which is to show the 'inferiority' of men. One, she wishes to show what a society would be like if everyone were treated equally. Two, and related, she wishes to show what society were like if people put the greater good above their individual goals. In that sense, Gilman's society is not socialism but more like anarchism -- there IS no central government; Herland operates like a large utopian family, in which everyone's role is equal and everyone has a very important role in society. No one's role is more important than any others, be they male or female.
The reason for the Herlandians' physical besting of the men is to show that women are only 'weak' because they are sheltered, and in turn are sheltered because they are weak; also, while the Herlandians were natural women living in the natural world, the men are essentially 'sheltered' by technology (all of them being specialists in an area) and thus are not physically trained as the women are. It's like a female Olympic runner beating a male who runs for his college in his spare time.
Of course, the book has flaws -- the utopian society of course, is without chink or problem, and Gilman ironically venerates traditional aspects of women, casting them into the stereotype of communal, compassionate, sacrificial mothers. The veneration of 'motherhood' almost religiously is hypocritical, as if every woman desires to be a mother. Predictably, no woman in the history of Herland seems to have a problem with denying self for the greater good, or the lack of tradition, or the taking away of her own children for communal rearing. For that, I have to say that Gilman -- while trying to deconstruct the typical notion of a woman -- inadvertently BUILDS it by assuming that all women have these characteristics naturally.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Little Pre-Nazi Fairy Tale
Review: I can't believe all that is wrong with this book. If you really detest men and you haven't a clue how males think or how real societies operate, you might like this story. However, if you have even one foot in reality, you'll find it childish to the extreme.
Author's assumptions
1. Men are the root of all evil.
2. Anything men can do, women can do better (including writng utopian fantasies).
3. Men are unnatural, unnecessary, unattractive, unreformable, and unrepentant.
4. Sex should be non-existant.
5. Science and society works out just the way you want it. (See Kendal Hunter's prior review.)
6. The reader has boundless time to vest in useless novels.
It's important to keep in mind that the book and its ideas were coming into print just as the seeds of Nazism and Hitlerism were planted and being cultivated. Clearly the author's ideas would not have been out of place in that era of eugenics as a way to build an ideal society. Furthermore, in her book, the author glosses over a myriad of 'unpleasant' details fitting of a nazi utopia:
1. The book contains more than a hint of socialist Aryan one race, one ideal elitism.
2. Birth control (!!!) is hinted, which by definition must involve some form of abortion.
3. Capital punishment is hinted as this 'utopian' society's way of getting rid of undesirables.
4. Women would be identically featureless, classless, and (apparently) humorless. By definition, parthenogenesis is not unlike cloning at the ovum level, so all women would be identical, excepting mutants.
5. It left me wondering if even crying babies was too much to be tolerated in this society.
I struggle not to be too hard on a novel nearly a century old, a blueprint for a feminist, socialist utopia devoid of men and apparently anyone else unlike the author. If this were a book about a utopia about race, we would condemn it to purgatory. However, since it only trashes men, we 'liberal women' are expected to swallow it reflexively. Unless you are a woman who pulls out her vibrator whenever you think about killing off men, I can't imagine who the audience is expected to be or why this tale was resurrected.
A number of good science fiction authors have addressed this same topic with superior stories and I would recommend any one of them over this tale that should have remained buried in the trash heap of time.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: good service
Review: I got the book in a timely manner and it is in adequate shape
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: More bourgeoise dreck
Review: Poorly written, feminist drivel conceived by a callow, middle-class mind. It's interesting that despite Gilman's righteous call for equality, she couldn't help but think that utopias would be populated only by those of "good Aryan stock." Yet another sheltered, narrow-minded hypocrite who had no idea of how the world really works, a fool blind to the fact that women are just as wicked as men, just in different ways.