Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

First published: serial, 1915; book, 1979

The Work

Herland, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a humorous Utopian novel about an ideal world in which women are free to demonstrate their personal and cultural identities. The three main characters are Terry Nicholson, a misogynist explorer; Jeff Margrave, a doctor who idolizes women; and Vandyck Jennings, a sociologist whose views on women are more empirical, if no more informed, than those of his comrades. The men, clearly, represent different types of male perspectives about women. Jeff idealizes females as Southern belles. Terry is concerned only with their physical appeal. Vandyck has a scientific outlook and regards them as objects of study.

The three discover the women’s Utopia. In their first encounter with the young native women, the explorers describe the inhabitants as tree dwellers who are skittish and defy capture. Lured by curiosity about the creatures, who are described in neuter terms, the men venture into the town. Not long after their arrival, they are surrounded by the elders of the settlement, who treat them hospitably but with much caution and who define for the three men the areas they may see within the new culture. Jeff, Terry, and Vandyck, however, seek more information than that provided by their polite captivity, and they escape their quarters and venture out on their own. During what proves to be an awakening for the three men, they are introduced to an ancient culture of women who have lived successfully for centuries without male influence. The women have built roads, a town, and a system of government; they have borne and reared children and flourished in the arts and sciences. The inhabitants of this Utopia become acquainted with their male captives, and the two groups enter into a dialogue about their separate worlds. Gilman uses conversation between the representatives of the sexes to compare the men’s culture with that of the entirely feminine culture. In this exchange, she illustrates the striking contrasts between the two sexes as they grapple to understand their histories, their beliefs about love, the maternal instinct, and the importance of child rearing, education, and work outside the home. Since courtship, sex, and marriage are unheard of social relations in the women’s culture, the men have difficulties explaining these practices and later trying to initiate them into the new culture. Through the comparison, Charlotte Gilman stresses the humanity that people share rather than the differences between the sexes.

Gilman’s purpose for writing Herland is inescapable. The book has many humorous examples of women’s independence and resourcefulness, but its purpose is serious; she points accusingly at the social flaws of her male-dominated culture. The inadequacies of her culture stand out in sharp relief against the Utopian world of the women.

Bibliography

Allen, Polly Wynn. Building Domestic Liberty: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Architectural Feminism. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1988. An outstanding analysis of Gilman’s interrelated ideas about homes, communities, and the social arrangement of the built environment.

Deegan, Mary Jo. Jane Addams and the Men of the Chicago School, 1892-1918. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books, 1988. This monograph is the major study of the Chicago women’s sociological network, centered at Hull House, in which Gilman participated. Deegan’s work is indispensable for untangling many of the relevant intellectual currents that defined Gilman’s era, especially the concept of “cultural feminism.”

Donaldson, Laura E. “The Eve of De-Struction: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Feminist Re-Creation of Paradise.” An Interdisciplinary Journal 16 (1989): 373-387.

Gubar, Susan. “She in Herland: Feminism as Fantasy.” In Coordinates: Placing Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by George E. Slusser, Eric S. Rabkin, and Robert Scholes. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1983. Asserts that women’s abusive reality within the patriarchy enables a visionary revolution. Argues that Gilman’s utopic work serves as a rejection of the patriarchy.

Hill, Mary A. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Making of a Radical Feminist, 1860-1896. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1980. A major biography of Gilman and the one to which students should turn first. Hill presents an astute, well-documented, and trustworthy account of Gilman’s early life and the origins of her ideas.

Karpinski, Joanne B., ed. Critical Essays on Charlotte Perkins Gilman. New York: G. K. Hall, 1992. An ambitious compendium of wide-ranging contemporary, reprinted, and original literary essays and critical assessments. Although somewhat technical, Lois Magner’s study carefully explores Gilman’s ideas on evolution and social Darwinism.

Keith, Bruce. “Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Stetson).” In Women in Sociology, edited by Mary Jo Deegan. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991. Presents a useful and straightforward overview of Gilman’s work, writings, and stature as a sociologist. Keith includes a bibliography of Gilman’s major works and a list of critical sources.

Keyser, Elizabeth. “Looking Backward: From Herland to Gulliver’s Travels.” In Critical Essays on Charlotte Perkins Gilman, edited by Joanne B. Karpinski. New York: G. K. Hall, 1992. Discusses Gilman’s utopia as a transcendent reinterpretation of Jonathan Swift’s satire on male pride in Gulliver’s Travels.

Lane, Ann J. Introduction to Herland, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. New York: Pantheon Books, 1979. Provides a new introduction to the book, which had long been out of print. Argues that Gilman’s use of humor originates from a personal and political praxis to promote a transformative, socialized world.

Lane, Ann J. To Herland and Beyond: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. New York: Pantheon, 1990. This popular biography interprets Gilman primarily from a psychological perspective (an orientation that Gilman rejected) and stresses Gilman’s family and interpersonal relationships. Unfortunately, Lane gives short shrift to major social issues and the intellectual milieu in which Gilman labored.

Meyering, Sheryl L., ed. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Woman and Her Work. Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research Press, 1989. This compendium offers fourteen frequently referenced critical essays, three of which focus on Herland.

Peyser, Thomas Galt. “Reproducing Utopia: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Herland.” Studies in American Fiction 20, no. 1 (1992): 1-16.

Scharnhorst, Gary. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A Bibliography. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1985. This reference is indispensable for serious students. Scharnhorst lists 2,173 of Gilman’s writings, including many found only in obscure magazines. This useful book also includes a compilation of published criticism, biographical materials, and relevant manuscript collections.