recommended reading

[zillanovikov]

My current work in progress novel--Women's Wrongs--well, here's the blurb:

> An autistic sapphic mathemagician attempts to find love in the era of the English Regency and French Revolution, and accidentally destabilizes two governments; as told by an inebriated 19th century Anarchist being paid by the word.

One part of this novel is a digression where the characters visit an Anarchist utopian commune and the author pontificates on features of an ideal society.

Any idea for book recommendations for me to read to guide my narrator's vision of utopia? I've been reading a lot of Bread Santa but he thinks that communes should use concensus-based decision making and I've been an activist long enough to know better than that. And I'm not looking for utopian visions set in the impossibly far future where--this needs to be a somewhat realistic next step for a French Revolution era community.

Ideally book recs for stuff that's out of copyright, to match the vibe of Women's Wrongs, but I'll take what I can get!

Comments

[ioplokon]

Wrong time period, but gotta recommend Cruising Utopia. Stoppard's Coast of Utopia also has similar vibes to what you're going for, I think, in terms of like... Anarchist RomCom tragedy that is deeply committed to women Having A Philosophy.

For public domain, you're a bit earlier than my era but maybe Mary Wollstonecraft would be an OK starting place & her stuff is generally easy to find...

[zillanovikov]

I'll look at Mary--I'd been hesitant cause I don't need more feminist reading (my fantasy world has less sexism than actual Regency England) but her writing on the French Revolution looks great.

I adore Stoppard, I'll definitely read those. And I'll look at Cruising, it has a nice cover...

[feuervogel]

Perhaps a bit too recent (1915) but Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland? It's also fiction, but it's a utopia of sorts

[zillanovikov]

I'm not strict about time periods--it sounds fascinating!