The Island of the Great Mother, Or, The Miracle of Île Des Dames: A Story from the Utopian Archipelago

Gerhart Hauptmann

Jan. 1925 · B.W. Huebsch and the Viking Press

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Begun in 1916, first published in 1924, this an almost poetic utopian work. About one hundred women and a twelve-year-old boy shipwrecked from a luxury liner on an unknown South Sea island establish a matriarchal society, a paradise of natural existence. In this society children are regarded as of divine origin, and there is a taboo on even considering who the father of any given child may be. The island religion resembles ancient Greek mythology but with Hindu and Buddhist aspects. As the male children grow up, they are exiled to the other side of the island where they develop a different kind of society and even establish contact with the outside world. Eventually, the matriarchal rule is ended by a revolt of the men, who bring society back to the more usual 'civilized' aspects and end this temporary, utopian, ideal world.