Perhaps not all the men were worthy of that freedom. Van, Jeff, and Terry venture into Herland, are 'captured' by the women, educated by the women, and eventually given some freedom. But they could not begin to imagine the reality of Herland. Return they do, and they think they've packed, planned, and prepared all they need. On one of their trips they hear rumors of a 'strange and terrible Woman land.this strange country where no men lived-only women and girl children.' They don't have time on this first trip to seek it out, but, they become determined to return on their own and find it next year. Premise/plot: Vandyck Jennings is a sociologist traveling or exploring with Terry O.

If I could have brought with me the material I so carefully prepared, this would be a very different story. What is missing now is an authoritative biography of this inspiring figure and more widespread recognition of her achievements.įirst sentence: This is written from memory, unfortunately. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the lives of women, the evolution of feminism, or just good writing in general. The topics Gilman took up and the characters she created are instructive not only of how far women have come since her time, but also how little our society has changed in some ways. The feminist-Utopian novel “Herland” is evidently her best-known work, but I found many of the short stories to be much more compelling than that novel. Gilman is truly one of the first feminist writers and led a unique life which included leaving her husband in 1888 and becoming a self-supporting writer, both practically unheard of in her time.

I have not extensively studied the subject of feminist literature, but I found this introduction to be fascinating. It contains not only “The Yellow Wallpaper” but also nearly 20 other short stories, the novel “Herland,” and an introduction by Barbara H. I knew I had to read more by this writer, and am extremely glad I purchased this omnibus volume. The way in which the story was written was so modern that it was next to impossible for me to believe it was written in 1892. I picked up this book after a friend gave me a photocopy of one of the short stories within, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” a mesmerizing first-person account of a woman suffering from extreme post-partum depression.

Herland and selected stories