Feminist Utopias - Softcover

Bartkowski, Frances

3.5

14 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803260911 ISBN 13: 9780803260917

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 1991

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The utopias envisioned by Edward Bellamy and other novelists late in the nineteenth century were generally blueprints of government. As satellites of men, women were expected to share in the general improvement of society. The resurgence of the feminist movement since the late 1960s has produced a very different kind of utopian literature. Frances Bartkowski explores a body of work that is striking and vital because it reflects the hopes, fears, and desires of women who have glimpsed the possibilities of a bright new world freed from stifling patriarchal structures.

Feminist Utopias is a comparative study of the utopian fiction of nine women writers in the United States, France, and Canada. Except for Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland (1915), the prototype for feminist literary utopias, all of the works were published between 1969 and 1986. Bartkowski discusses Monique Wittig's Les Gu�rill�res, Joanna Russ's The Female Man, Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time, Suzy McKee Charnas's Motherlines, Christine Rochefort's Archaos, ou le jardin �tincelant, E. M. Broner's A Weave of Women, Louky Bersianik's The Eugelionne, and two dystopian novels, Charnas's Walk to the End of the World and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale.

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About the Author:

Frances Bartkowski is an assistant professor of English and Director of Women's Studies at Rutgers University.

From Library Journal:

This scholarly work addresses the themes, literary techniques, and historical contexts of feminist utopian novels published between 1969 and 1986. Drawing upon the history of utopian literature and of women, it offers stimulating cross-cultural study of the genre through the analysis of nine novels written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Joanna Russ, Marge Piercy, Monique Wittig, Suzy McKee Charnas, Christiane Rochefort, E.M. Broner, Louky Bersianik, and Margaret Atwood. Exporing the themes of power, gender, maternity, politics, kinship, and community, Bartkowski demonstrates a well-grounded knowledge of the subject, presenting a valuable addition to the study of utopian and women's literature. Highly recommended for academic libraries.
- Jeris Cassel, Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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