An exploration of the lineage of female utopian literature

Abstract

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.