Gilman's "Herland" (1915)

Pantheon Books 1979

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1915 novel Herland is a "lost world" story involving the discovery of an isolated country (about the size of the Netherlands) whose population is entirely female. Having existed without men for 2000 years (and reproducing through spontaneous "virgin births"), the people of "Herland" have developed a utopian social and economic system uninfluenced by the "bi-sexual" world outside. Although it features parallel universe/alternate history elements, the novel functions primarily as a social satire. 

Signet 1992

The novel is told from the point of view of three American men: a chauvinistic "lady-killer" sportsman named Terry, a gallant, almost-pious doctor named Jeff, and Van, a pragmatic sociologist (and the novel's narrator). In contrast to a typical lost world story, the plot itself is very simple and has no real twists or physical conflicts. Instead, narrative tension comes when the outsiders try to describe their own world to the residents of this self-sustained "mono-gender" utopia, and find it increasingly difficult to rationalize the disease, wars and economic inequalities of Western civilization. 

Herland at Standard Ebooks

In fact, much of the novel consists of descriptions of how an essentially gender-neutral society has overcome the ills of modern society, although the narrator does imply a lack of drama and adventure in the Herlanders' lives. Perhaps also due to the isolated nature of their existence, culture has reached a plateau, and for this reason the people of Herland are extremely interested in learning everything they can from their exotic (male) visitors. Nonetheless, the novel mainly works as a satire on Western society and as a vessel by which Gilman (a noted feminist of her time) prescribes her own social salves. 

Penguin Classics 2009

At the end of this novel two of the men depart Herland with one of the more adventurous members of the Herlanders (Van's "bride"), and their subsequent exploits in the outside world are described in the sequel With Her in Ourland (1916).

Synopsis

1. A Not Unnatural Enterprise: After joining a scientific expedition going up an unspecified river region, three American friends (chauvinistic lady-killer Terry Nicholson, chivalrous biologist Jeff Margrave and pragmatic sociologist Van Jennings) hear about a rumored "lost world" populated only by women and female children, situated at the top of a cliff. Intrigued by the possibilities, a year later they return on a boat of their own, along with a portable folding wing biplane. After making a brief aerial survey of the land, they decide to land and meet the locals.
2. Rash Advances: Entering an idyllic, well-cultivated park area, they encounter three young women climbing a tree, who tease them and then run away towards a distant village. When the three men follow, they eventually arrive in an immaculately-kept group of pink buildings. Soon, they are surrounded by determined middle-aged women, who study them intently and dismiss the men's attempts to impress them. When the stern, short-haired women try to crowd the men into a grey building, Terry fires his pistol in an attempt to warn them off. However, the men are instead disarmed and forcibly carried into the building, after which they are drugged into unconsciousness. 
3. A Peculiar Imprisonment: The men wake up in a room at the top of a seemingly-ancient fortress and are provided with food and new gender-neutral clothing. In the ensuing weeks, they are closely guarded by the "matrons", but are also provided with materials by which they can gradually learn the language of "Herland". Van and Jeff are agreeable to this turn of events, but Terry becomes frustrated at this velvet-gloved imprisonment and eventually hatches a plan to escape using ropes created out of scraps of bedding. The three friends eventually escape the fortress.
4. Our Venture: After several nights of travel, the men reach their biplane, which they find to be immobilized with some kind of impenetrable canvas. When the three young girls from their first day's arrival appear, the men try to befriend them for their knives, but merely scare them away. Eventually, an army of the older women appear and bring them back to the fortress. Soon, the men acquire enough knowledge of the Herland's language and begin asking their "tutors" about the absence of men in their country. They learn that the women reproduce without mating (parthenogenesis), and that milk is provided by humans, not cattle. Men have not existed in their country for 2000 years, and the land is used for farming rather than cattle grazing. When the men begin to describe some of the procedures done to derive milk and meat from cattle in the outside world, the women become visibly disturbed.
5. A Unique History: Later, when the men describe how dogs are treated in their own world, the women gently question the logical aspects behind these customs. In the ensuing months, the visitors learn that in Biblical times the peninsular plateau of Herland had been accessible through a mountain pass, but a volcanic eruption had then sealed them off. This eruption also killed most of the men (or those left remaining after years of vicious warfare). A slave revolt had then ensued which ended up with all of the remaining men dead. Trapped on the peninsula without males, the remaining women (essentially former "harem women") had resolved to accept the end of their lines. However, one day a pregnancy arose without a father, and this woman soon bore five women who were also able to give birth without sexual intercourse with a man. Generations later, Herland became occupied enirely by these "new women", and since then there have been no wars or incidents of violence. When the men explain how labor is distributed between men and women in the outside world, their explanations tend to reflect badly on their "bi-sexual" world.
   
6. Comparisons Are Odious: The women continue their friendly interrogations about the outside world, as if the men had come from another planet. The men realize that all of the women and children of Herland have had better educations than most people in their own land. They also learn that, in contrast to the outside world, there is no need for constant economic conflict and territorial warfare, since the women of Herland maintain a stable population suitable for the fruits of the land. If it is necessary for a woman to suppress an oncoming pregnancy ("child-longing"), she absorbs herself in the care of the general population of children, all of whom are considered children of the entire community.
7. Our Growing Modesty: The men soon learn that the women of Herland have developed farming and medical techniques far superior to that of the outside world, as well as a more progressive social consciousness. When Van asks his tutor Somel how they deal with problematic members of their society, she states that criminals do not exist because in he past mothers with questionable personalities were dissuaded from bearing children. Additionally, children are reared not by birth mothers but by child-rearing "specialists". 
8. The Girls of Herland: Eventually, the men are taken around Herland to be "exhibited" to the general public, including the young girls of the population. Their pride (especially Terry's) becomes wounded when they are not worshiped as sexual objects, but more as a source by which to learn about the outside world. However, as time passes, they reunite with the three "tree-climbing" girls and begin to pair off with them. Van's partner, Ellador, soon confesses that even before the men had landed in their plane, they had been spotted below the cliffs by the three girls, after which the women of Herland had created a plan to capture and domesticate these strange visitors. In fact, the rulers of Herland had been considering the possible advantages of reintroducing a "bi-sexual" society into their world. Unfortunately, most of the men's descriptions of the outside world have so far turned out to be markedly inferior to life in Herland. In any case, the men hope to marry the girls, but the three foresters can only conceive of the visitors as "friends".
   
9. Our Relations and Theirs: Van asks his tutors about the education employed in Herland and is shown that, from infant to adulthood, children are given a much more efficient form of education that that practiced in the outside world. The women of Herland grow to be ideal citizens of the land without need for strife. However, this lack of drama also tends to make their literature a bit "flat", and society, having reached a perfect "ideal", has no need to develop in any way. Meanwhile, Terry becomes more and more frustrated at the lack of something to accomplish.
10. Their Religions and Our Marriages: Van learns that the women of Herland live productive, peaceful lives in honor of their deity, as opposed to Christians of the outside world who fight in fear of eternal damnation. Ellador also wonders why the beliefs of mankind have not evolved in thousands of years, as their technology has. Nonetheless, the men insist on "marrying" their partners and, in order to appease them (and explore this new ritual), the women of Herland hold  a quasi-wedding ceremony to marry the three couples.
11. Our Difficulties: Despite their new positions as husbands, the three men are still forced to live separately from their "wives". Additionally, their wives do not share their views on sex as being something more than a function of procreation. Van and Jeff eventually come to accept this celibate arrangement, but Terry attempts to force himself on his wife Alima. Terry is overpowered and put to a trial, after which it is determined that he must be expelled from Herland.
12. Expelled: It is also decided that Van must accompany Terry to help him safely fly the biplane. Van's wife Ellador, fascinated by stories of the Outside World, insists on coming with them (Jeff remains in Herland, as his wife Celis has become pregnant). Before Van, Terry and Ellador leave, Herland's ruling council forces the two men to promise to keep the location of Herland a secret, as they do not believe it worthwhile (as yet) to establish a relationship with the harsh, disease-ridden, prejudiced, war-loving world outside. 

    

    Dover Thrift Editions 2012

Wiki Entry
Herland at Standard Ebooks 
"Herland: the forgotten feminist classic about a civilisation without men" (Lindy West, The Guardian)