Mirroring women’s world in Utopian and Dystopian novels In Sultana’s Dream, Herland, The Bluest Eye and Memoirs of a Survivor

Abstract

This thesis examines how from the early to late-20th century women writers of different contexts and cultural backgrounds have utilized the genres of ‘Utopian’ and ‘Dystopian’ literature to challenge the social and cultural norms of gender. This thesis also explores how such writings are shaped by the critical forces of modernism and post-modernism to develop the feminist narrative of power relation within the intersectionality of colonial and postcolonial histories. In order to support my arguments, Sultana’s Dream (1905) and Herland (1915) have been selected to demonstrate the utopian novels. The Bluest Eye (1970) and Memoirs of Survivor (1974) have been selected for the dystopian part as the primary source. In terms of theoretical arguments, Michael Foucault’s [theory of power and sexuality] History of Sexuality (1978) and his other writings have been given priority. Simone De Beauvoir and Judith Butler’s theories have been used to interrogate the issue of gender. This thesis has three main chapters where key themes of the texts in particular gender issues and how the ‘women question’ is interrogated in the novels are examined.