Herland: Connection to Definition of American Literature

For many years, scholars, historians, and philosophers have engaged in heated debates concerning the topic of American literature, eager to define what many claim to be a formidable task. But what exactly makes American literature such a formidable task? So difficult to understand? American literature is a growing genre, spanning over the course of centuries across a vast plain that was and is commonly referred to as the west. It is confined by vague boundaries; lines addressing the temporal as well as physical borders. Does it begin during the precolonial era, when oral tradition was popular among the natives? It is characterized by where it was written (location) or by its content that might relate to American ideologies? These kinds of questions leave many scholars and historians stumped, unable to continue their definition with clear, "scientific" evidence. In order to answer these questions, they will often team up and compose their own original solution, accustomed to their group's or their own beliefs. However, with these individual responses, many of the solutions remain in constant debate with one another. Reasons for such controversy can be found lying within the rapidly evolving, highly influential, dynamic American culture. Literature pertaining to a country is a product of its history, culture, and overall motive.

By re-evaluating the historical context of America's foundation, one may truly understand the culture and ultimately the literature that was derived from it. Modernism, as we have discussed many times before, was a monumental step in the development of western literature. It is characterized by optimism, where the average human has the ability to manipulate and reshape their surroundings despite their social standing and common troubles. When Charlotte Gilman first wrote "Herland," she pictured precisely this, a place that had been perfected due to unremitting criticism, one that welcomed scrutiny and correction. The Utopian trait of the civilization recurs often to fully establish what women are capable of. While describing the organization and landscape, Gilman writes: "Everything was beauty, order, perfect cleanness, and the pleasantest sense of home over it all" (16). She strengthens the idea of a utopia by characterizing its inhabitants: "These were merely athletic--light and powerful. College professors, teachers, writers--many women showed similar intelligence but often wore a strained nervous look, while these we as calm as cows, for all their evident intellect" (19). Gilman finalizes and verifies the idea of the feminist utopia upon Vandyck's revelation and acceptance of gender equality. She writes, "[w]e had expected a dull submissive monotony, and found a daring social inventiveness far beyond our own...  We had expected pettiness, and found a social consciousness beside which our nations looked like quarreling children... We had expected jealously, and found a broad sisterly affection... We had expected hysteria, and found a standard of health and vigor..." (69). With such evidence, Gilman's intention to envision a utopia is obvious and a phenomenal representation of modernist philosophy. "Herland" could easily be used within my Definition of American literature.