From Publishers Weekly
Burdekin's (1896-1963) companion, a woman who requests anonymity, has stated that the English feminist "never . . . took longer than six weeks in writing any book." So it is not surprising that this previously unpublished 1935 novel almost wholly neglects literary craft in favor of the author's political agenda. It is the 63rd century and women have long established their ascendancy, having sickened of the world wars that men wage. Males are raised in careful ignorance of the past; literature exists only in Latin, a language of which men are not even aware. Burdekin ( Swastika Night ) does not paint a paradise, however: men here hate their bodies, suffer profound insecurity, cannot fulfill themselves. Grania, a distinguished philosopher, perceives the harm of sexism and risks her life to educate her son. As Pygmalion, her dogged lessons concentrate heavily on the flawed political and social structures of our times, here called the Childhood Age, and on the particular horrors of fascism and Hitler.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Governed by women for more than 4000 peaceful years, the world portrayed in this feminist utopian novel is ruled by reason and intellect and regards males as inferior beings. Yearning for the equality of males and females, world artist Grania risks her life and her son's by telling him the secrets of the past--how the world was once ruled by men who nearly destroyed civilization through militarism, emotionalism, and unreasonableness and how it was transformed by women. Written in 1935 in England and published for the first time, this fascinating and thought-provoking novel with its familiar historical, social, and psychological references is a worthly companion to the author's dystopian novel, Swastika Night (Feminist Pr., 1985).
- Jeris Cassel, Rutgers Univ. Libs., New Brunswick, N.J.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
