Reclaiming Gynotopia

: Female Authored ‘Ustopian’ Novels and Science Fiction

Abstract

In The Blazing World (1666) Margaret Cavendish stated: “my ambition is not only to be Empress, but Authoress of a whole world.” Thus began the evolution of gynotopia, texts defined by Darby Lewes as depicting “a place for women free of male oppression.” Historically this was revolutionary, writing a place for women directly challenging patriarchal ideas of a woman’s place. Examples of women writing in this mode are present in every century: from the1600s to the present day. My research categorises these novels, creating a definition for an unofficial genre and enabling these women in turn to claim their own space within the male-dominated history of science fiction (SF). The Blazing World is the point of
origin for this project as it is the first gynotopia to incorporate science fictional elements, in Cavendish’s use of alternate dimensions and speculative technology such as jet-propelled ships. This SF aspect has remained integral to gynotopian writing and its strategy of defamiliarization but has also led to these texts being occluded by those who view SF with disdain, leading to much critical neglect of the mode. This study seeks to revise and update the study of feminist utopia, noting its dynamic and complex nature, in particular its ustopianism (Margaret Atwood’s coinage for the interpenetration of utopian and dystopian
elements). This study is essential to the modernisation and future of gynotopian studies, as it provides one of few extensive overviews of the history of feminist utopian scholarship, which has undergone shockingly little revision or correction since its surge in productivity at the end of the twentieth century. The purpose of this study is to utilise my retrospective relation to this era of scholarship and provide a non-exhaustive, yet representative examination of the evolving characteristics of gynotopias from 1666 to the present, alongside an examination of the history of scholarship on them (or lack-there-of). The aim is to encourage further revision and study of this curiously long-lived yet woefully neglected genre of women’s writing, as I attempt to understand the continuum of its spontaneous proliferation, despite varying levels of publication and readership.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Dundee
Supervisor	Keith Williams (Supervisor) & Daniel Cook (Supervisor)