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With Her in Ourland (1916)

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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682388,780 (3.21)2
Two works in one, this volume contains the full text of With Her in Ourland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, as well as an illuminating sociological analysis by Mary Jo Deegan with the assistance of Michael R. Hill. Ourland is the sequel to Gilman's acclaimed feminist utopian novel Herland; both were published in her journal, The Forerunner, in 1915 and 1916. Ourland resumes the adventures of ^IHerland^R's protagonists, Ellador and Van, but turns from utopian fantasy to a challenging analysis of contemporary social fissures in his land, or the real world. The republication of Herland as a separate novel in 1979 revived critical interest in Gilman's work but truncated the larger aims implicit in the ^IHerland/Ourland^R saga, leaving an erroneous understanding of Gilman's other/better half of the story, in which it is suggested that strong women can resocialize men to be nurturant and cooperative. Gilman's choice of a sexually integrated society in With Her in Ourland provides us with her answer to her ideal society, but her foray into a woman-only society as a corrective to a male dominated one is a controversial option. The challenging message of Ourland, however, does not impede the pleasure of reading it as a novel. Though known more for her fiction today, Gilman in her time was a recognized and accomplished sociologist who admired Lester F. Ward and frequently visited Jane Addams of Chicago's Hull-House. The male protagonist in Herland/Ourland, Van, is a sociologist, used by Gilman as a foil on which to skewer the assumptions and practices of patriarchal sociology. The interpretation presented here, which adopts a sociological viewpoint, is invaluable reading for scholars and students of sociology, American women's studies, and utopian literature.… (more)
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The edition which I read had a long introduction (over 50 pages out of a book of 200 pages) by Mary Jo Deegan, and was edited by Deegan and Michael R. Hill. However, there were no notes within the text itself. I was interested in reading the novel by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and did not pay much attention to the introduction.

With Her in Ourland is a sequel to Gilman’s novel, Herland, in which three American men visit an imaginary place inhabited only by women and girls. Van (Vandyke Jennings) marries Ellador, one of the women there, and in this book brings her to Ourland, the world as we know it. There is very little plot. The book is primarily a discussion between Van and Ellador about the social conditions on earth, particularly in the United States. This discussion tends to get tedious; sometimes it even includes statistics. Although the text was originally published serially in 1916 during World War One and before American women had the right to vote, many of the conditions explored in the book are still problems today. These include the inequality of women to men, the unequal distribution of wealth with some very powerful rich people and many people so poor that they cannot live in healthfully, the misuse of natural resources, and war. During their time in Ourland Van and Ellador live more more in a brother/sister relationship than as a married couple. ( )
1 vote sallylou61 | Jul 26, 2014 |
Herland was interesting as a sociological utopian novel. This sequel, however, strips out the utopian part as the narrator and his Herland-native wife travel the globe before coming back to America. Unfortunately, the story and plot are all but non-existent as Ellador sees more and more of the world outside her perfect society, and the book becomes a mouthpiece for Gilman's critiques of American society, economics, race relations, and gender roles. While never moving fully into manifesto territory, With Her in Ourland is still preachy and vaguely condescending. ( )
  librarybrandy | Mar 29, 2013 |
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Two works in one, this volume contains the full text of With Her in Ourland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, as well as an illuminating sociological analysis by Mary Jo Deegan with the assistance of Michael R. Hill. Ourland is the sequel to Gilman's acclaimed feminist utopian novel Herland; both were published in her journal, The Forerunner, in 1915 and 1916. Ourland resumes the adventures of ^IHerland^R's protagonists, Ellador and Van, but turns from utopian fantasy to a challenging analysis of contemporary social fissures in his land, or the real world. The republication of Herland as a separate novel in 1979 revived critical interest in Gilman's work but truncated the larger aims implicit in the ^IHerland/Ourland^R saga, leaving an erroneous understanding of Gilman's other/better half of the story, in which it is suggested that strong women can resocialize men to be nurturant and cooperative. Gilman's choice of a sexually integrated society in With Her in Ourland provides us with her answer to her ideal society, but her foray into a woman-only society as a corrective to a male dominated one is a controversial option. The challenging message of Ourland, however, does not impede the pleasure of reading it as a novel. Though known more for her fiction today, Gilman in her time was a recognized and accomplished sociologist who admired Lester F. Ward and frequently visited Jane Addams of Chicago's Hull-House. The male protagonist in Herland/Ourland, Van, is a sociologist, used by Gilman as a foil on which to skewer the assumptions and practices of patriarchal sociology. The interpretation presented here, which adopts a sociological viewpoint, is invaluable reading for scholars and students of sociology, American women's studies, and utopian literature.

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