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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.
List of contents
Introduction: Gilman's Sociological Journey from Herland to Ourland
With Her in Ourland: Sequel to Herland
The Return
War
A Journey of Inspection
Nearing Home
My Country
The Diagnosis
In Our Homes
More Diagnosis
[Democracy and Economics]
[Race and Religion]
[Feminism and the Woman's Movement]
[Conclusion]
About the author
MARY JO DEEGAN is Professor of Sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research interests include theory, methods, women, disability, and the history of sociology. She has published more than 80 articles, chapters, and books, including
American Ritual Dramas (Greenwood, 1989) and
Women in Sociology (Greenwood, 1991), and coedited
With Her in Ourland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Greenwood, 1997).
