Herland was serialized in Gilman’s magazine The Forerunner in 1915 and not published as a book until 1979 (Pantheon Books). Three American men — a sociologist, a doctor, and a macho sportsman — discover a hidden country in South America populated exclusively by women. The women reproduce through parthenogenesis (virgin birth) and have built a civilization based on cooperation, education, and environmental stewardship over two thousand years of isolation.
The novel works as anthropological thought experiment: what would a society look like without men? Gilman’s answer is systematic. Without war, resources go to education and childcare. Without sexual competition, women develop their full intellectual and physical capacities. Without private property (the family unit does not exist as an economic entity), children are raised communally by the best-qualified caregivers. Without patriarchal religion, spiritual life centers on the wonder of creation and motherhood.
The three male visitors serve as comic foils: their assumptions about women (weakness, irrationality, sexual availability) are systematically demolished by the calm, intelligent, physically powerful women of Herland. The sociologist adapts; the doctor is charmed; the sportsman tries to impose his will through physical force and is expelled.
The novel’s limitations are also revealing: Gilman’s utopia is racially homogeneous (she was not free of the racism of her era), and its emphasis on motherhood as women’s essential function seems conservative from a contemporary feminist perspective. But as a thought experiment about gender and social organization, Herland remains powerful and readable.
Collecting Herland
First book edition (Pantheon Books, New York, 1979): Trade paperback.
Original serialization (The Forerunner, 1915): Complete magazine run.
Market values:
- Complete Forerunner volume containing serialization: $300–$800
- Pantheon first book edition (1979): $30–$80