Herland's Utopian Society Constructed in the Literature and Discourse of Federica Montseny

Abstract

This thesis examines the commonality in literature and discourse between female writers Federica Montseny and Charlotte Gilman Perkins. At the turn of the twentieth century, women had begun to question the gender disparities and inequalities they faced. Patriarchal social standards ensured that women remained confined in roles cultivated by domesticity. This study investigates the many writings of Federica Montseny, including one of her earliest novels, El hijo de Clara. It compares themes such as motherhood, womanhood, and education in Montseny’s works with those of Herland, the utopian novel written by Charlotte Gilman. Despite their differences of culture and background, Montseny and Gilman shared concerns, and a manner of articulating their thought-provoking construction of the female gender role. Both rejected the traditional roles within the domestic sphere and through their narratives were able to generate new ideals for motherhood and la autocreación femenina that served women’s rights and emancipation. These novelists also voiced, through their narrative, a humanist approach to solving gender inequality in society by introducing themes such as the “new hope” and portraying education as art form.