An exploration of the lineage of female utopian literature

My paper assesses the effects of periodization on feminist representations of utopias. The first text acknowledged is Margaret Cavendish’s The Blazing World, followed by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland, and concluding with Angela Carter’s collection of short stories entitled The Bloody Chamber. The paper demonstrates how one can mark the different movements within feminism throughout history as the nature of the utopian genre is that it reflects the desires of individuals within contemporary society. The utopia as a genre is becoming an increasingly diverse literary segment and one which can be described as under construction. We are moving towards new terms such as ‘ustopia’ which acknowledges that one’s utopia can be another’s dystopia. The utopian genre fuels and supports critical and satirical writing and so the method of periodization and assessing its lineage leads to illuminating details on historical movements which in this case is feminism.emmacrabtree@msn.comEmma Crabtree is nearing the end of her MA at University of Buckingham by research which discusses Naomi Alderman’s novel The Power and its presentation of the structures of power within society, in connection with fourth wave feminism. Women’s writing is of key interest to her, especially female dystopian novels which are often driven by a critique of society through forceful feminist messages.University of BuckinghamCarter, A. 1995. The Bloody Chamber. London: Vintage.Cavendish, M. 2004. The Blazing World and Other Writings, ed. Kate Lilley. London: Penguin Books.Gilman, C. P. 2015. Herland. London: Vintage Classics.Anon. Utopia, The British Library, http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/utopia/utopia.htm>, [Date Accessed: 12 / 11 / 2018]Atwood, M. 2011. Margaret Atwood: The road to ustopia. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/14/margaret-atwood-road-to-ustopia (22 October 2018).Donawerth, J. & Kolmerten, C. A. 1994. Utopian and Science Fiction by Women: Worlds of Difference. New York: Syracuse University Press.Haase, D. 2000. Feminist fairy-tale scholarship: A critical survey and bibliography. Marvels and Tales 14: 15-63.Hill, M. A. 1980. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A feminist’s struggle with womanhood. The Massachusetts Review 21: 503-526.Johnston, G. 1991. Three men in Herland: Why they enter the text. Utopian Studies 4: 55-59. Kent, D. 2018. Early asexual feminists: The asexual history of social purity activists and spinsters. Making Queer History. https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/articles/2018/6/3/early-asexual-feminists-the-asexual-history-of-social-purity-activists-and-spinsters (23 October 2018).Kessler, C. F. 1995. Daring to Dream: Utopian Fiction by United States Women before 1950. 2nd ed. New York: Syracuse University Press.Leslie, M. 1996. Gender, genre and the utopian body. Utopian Studies 7: 6-24.Miller, M. 1983. The ideal woman in two feminist science-fiction utopias. Science Fiction Studies 10: 191-8.Pearson, C. 1977. Women’s fantasies and feminist utopias. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 2: 50-61.Pohl, N. 2003. Of mixt natures: Questions of genre in Margaret Cavendish’s The Blazing World. In: S. Clucas (ed.), A Princely Brave Woman: Essays on Margaret Cavendish Duchess of Newcastle, 51-68. Aldershot: Ashgate.Seago, K. 1999. New wine in old bottles?: Angela Carter’s Bloody Chamber of revisioned fairy tales. Metaphore 26: 7-98.Snodgrass, M. E. 2006. Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature. New York: Facts on File.Trubowitz, R. 1992. The Reenchantment of utopia and the female monarchical self: Margaret Cavendish’s blazing world. Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 11: 229-245.Warner, M. 2013. Melbourne writers festival. The Sunday Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/melbourne-writers-festival-20130815-2ryy0.html (25 October 2018).West, L. 2015. Introduction in: Gilman, Charlotte Perkins (ed.), Herland, vii-xiii. London: Vintage Classics.Winterson, J. 1995. Art and Lies. Canada: Vintage Books.Woolf, V. 1996. A Room of One’s Own & Three Guineas. Great Britain: Vintage.26 (3/2019)213