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Beatrice the Sixteenth

Beatrice the Sixteenth: Being the Personal Narrative of Mary Hatherley, M.B., Explorer and Geographer is a 1909 feminist utopian novel by the English lawyer, writer, and activist Irene Clyde. She has been described by contemporary scholars as non-binary, transgender, or a trans woman.[1] The book tells the story of a time traveler who discovers a lost world featuring a postgender society.

Beatrice the Sixteenth: Being the Personal Narrative of Mary Hatherley, M.B., Explorer and Geographer
Title page of the first edition
AuthorIrene Clyde
LanguageEnglish
Genres
Set inArmeria
PublisherGeorge Bell & Sons, Macmillan
Publication date
1909
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint
Pages338
OCLC557866271

Plot summary

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Mary Hatherley, a geographical explorer traveling through a desert with an Arab escort, is knocked unconscious by a camel. She awakes to find herself among a group of mysterious people dressed in brown robes with yellow stripes. As she travels with them, she discovers the utopian society of Armeria under the rule of Queen Beatrice the Sixteenth. Upon her arrival, Mary is introduced to the orderly streets of Armeria, where societal norms and traditional gender roles are ambiguous. The inhabitants of Armeria live in a harmonious environment, emphasising equality and mutual respect, without the strict gender distinctions present in Mary's world.

Mary is hosted by Ilex, a high-ranking official in Armeria, who helps her navigate the customs and traditions of this society. Ilex's house serves as an example of Armerian culture, filled with various characters that showcase the different facets of their social structure. The people of Armeria engage in intellectual pursuits, artistic expressions, and a communal way of life that prioritises collective well-being over individual ambition. They follow a strict vegetarian diet, having ceased to slaughter animals for over a thousand years. Their language incorporates elements of Latin and Greek and lacks grammatical gender. Slavery exists in Armeria, but the treatment of slaves appears to be more humane and integrated into their society.

As Mary becomes more integrated into Armerian society, she observes their custom of forming life partnerships, known as a "conjux", which are based on love, companionship, and equality, rather than sex, highlighting the differences from her own society. The Armerians are unable to reproduce, so infants are exchanged for goods from neighbouring inhabitants.

Tensions escalate as conflict arises between Armeria and the neighbouring Uras people, who plot to dethrone Queen Beatrice and are determined to conquer Armeria. The Armerians prepare for the inevitable conflict with a mixture of stoicism and hope, demonstrating their resilience and commitment to their way of life. The narrative explores the strategies and emotional struggles of the Armerian leaders as they face the threat of invasion. Mary witnesses the bravery and sacrifice of the Armerians, particularly through the actions of Ilex and other key figures who embody the spirit of their society.

Mary accompanies Ilex and a group of scouts as they explore the mountains and caves, searching for signs of the Uras invaders. The tension increases when they are attacked, and Mary experiences the realities of the impending war. This journey tests Mary's courage and deepens her bond with the Armerians, solidifying her place in their community. The struggle against the Uras is depicted in detail, highlighting the contrast between the peaceful Armerian way of life and the aggression of their enemies.

As the conflict reaches its climax, Mary is drawn into the heart of the battle, witnessing the heroism and losses of her new friends. The Armerians' defence of their homeland is portrayed with both grandeur and intimacy, focusing on individual stories of bravery and the collective determination to preserve their society. The narrative presents the cost of defending one's values and way of life without shying away from the realities of war.

The story concludes with a reflection on the impact of the conflict and the enduring spirit of the Armerians. Despite the devastation, the community's commitment to their ideals remains steadfast. Mary, now fully a part of Armerian society, forms a conjux with Ilex and contemplates the lessons she has learnt and the transformative power of their example. The manuscript concludes with a note revealing that Mary has decided to stay in Armeria, entrusting her story to be shared with the world to inspire others to envision a society founded on equality and respect. She sends the manuscript to a friend in Scotland, who then arranges for its publication by Irene Clyde.

Themes

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Defamiliarization

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Beatrice the Sixteenth has been described as a successful example of defamiliarization, in that it places the reader in a world initially without any indications of gender and this places strain on the reader's attempt to apply existing social paradigms which require gender categorisation.[2]

Gender and sexuality

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The novel has been cited as a predecessor of other feminist utopias and modern radical feminist thinking on gender and sexuality.[3] Some commentators draw attention to how the novel initially avoids the use of gendered pronouns, instead referring to characters as a "figure", "person" or "personage", yet as the novel progresses, gendered pronouns such as she are increasingly used and feminine characteristics are blatantly valued.[4][3] Others, such as Sonja Tiernan, argue that despite Armeria being presented as genderless, the characters all appear to be female.[5] Emily Hamer calls the book a lesbian love story.[6] Clyde's deliberate avoidance of gendering the book's characters has been contrasted to Ursula K. Leguin's 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness, which uses masculine pronouns to refer to its agender characters.[2] It has also been compared to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland, published six years later, in 1915, with Beatrice the Sixteenth described as being "more radical".[5] The book is considered to be an early example of transgender literature.[7]

Marriage

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Sonja Tiernan argues that the book is critical of heterosexual marriage and presents it as only being redeemable when it's based on a relationship between people of the same gender.[5]

Reception

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The novel did not sell well, and copies remained with the publisher into the 1950s.[6] A contemporary reviewer commended it for being well-written and interesting, with characters that felt real.[8] Another reviewer suggested that the "Adventures of Mary Hatherley" would have been a more fitting title but appreciated the vegetarianism of the Armerians.[9] The Herald of the Cross saw the book as conveying a spiritual and occult message, representing the soul's journey on an occult plane of consciousness.[10] Louise Radford Wells found the novel unusual and was initially confused by the characters' genders, later realising that each heroine was also a hero. She concluded that the book was well-written and entertaining.[11] The Guardian speculated that the author might have been a suffragist, describing the society in the book as delightful but lacking detailed explanations of its workings. Despite finding the book's style incoherent, the review acknowledged its interesting ideas.[12]

Criticism

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A contemporary critic described the book's setting as highly unusual and not easily understandable. As a result, they felt that the story lacked a certain level of human interest that might have made it more engaging for readers.[13]

In Changing Subjects, Melanie Taylor critiques the novel as being very unrealistic and having a dense, sluggish writing style.[4]: 401  She highlights that it depicts an idealised version of an entirely female world and contends that it does not successfully represent a true utopia:[4]: 403 

Far from being the ideal state it sets out to be, this world is riddled with its own divisions and conflicts. Hierarchical and binary distinctions are the foundational poles of this alternative existence—Armeria/Uras, free people/slaves, civilised/barbarians—whilst in its practices of "conjux" (which means "a joined person") the Western conventions of monogamy and marriage are upheld.

Matt Polzin argues that in Clyde's vision of an ideal future society, which is achieved by abolishing gender, she relied on other classification systems, including colonial hierarchies. Polzin believes that utopian world-building is enhanced when we increase our "response-ability" to historical acts of racial and colonial violence and take into account existing cultural and ecological relationships, especially in those "elsewheres" that utopian fiction has traditionally portrayed as blank canvases for imagination.[14]

Lucy Ella Rose claims that Clyde's uncritical approach to enslavement reveals her work's elitist and hierarchical tendencies. While she aims to abolish sex and gender divisions and elevate lesbian intimacy, her work conservatively reinforces class and social status divisions. This is evident in her support for protecting the aristocracy, associating it with the "charm" of femininity. These aspects align Clyde's work with other white middle-class feminist writings of the interwar period, situating it within broader literary and scientific modernism debates.[15]

Publication history

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The first edition was published in 1909 by George Bell & Sons, in London.[16] It was also published by Macmillan, in New York.[17]

A new edition of the book was published in 2023 by Mint Editions.[18]

References

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  1. ^ Orsi, Marcus (2021-05-18). "Jenny White reflects on the legacy of Urania". LSE Review of Books. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  2. ^ a b Patai, Daphne (Spring 1982). "When Women Rule: Defamiliarization in the Sex-Role Reversal Utopia". Extrapolation. 23 (1): 56–69. doi:10.3828/extr.1982.23.1.56.
  3. ^ a b Ferreira, Maria Aline Seabra; Ferreira, M. A. Almoster (2005). I Am the Other: Literary Negotiations of Human Cloning. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-313-32006-4.
  4. ^ a b c Taylor, Melanie (July 2000). Changing Subjects: Transgender Consciousness and the 1920s (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of York.
  5. ^ a b c McAuliffe, Mary; Tiernan, Sonja, eds. (2008). "'Engagements Dissolved:' Eva Gore-Booth, Urania and the Challenge to Marriage". Tribades, Tommies and Transgressives: Histories of Sexualities. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 128–144. ISBN 978-1-84718-592-1 – via Academia.edu.
  6. ^ a b Hamer, Emily (2016). Britannia's Glory: A History of Twentieth Century Lesbians. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-1-4742-9280-1.
  7. ^ Cugini, Eli (2021-09-15). "The troubled golden age of trans literature". Xtra Magazine. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  8. ^ "Books and Things" (PDF). The Nautilus: 56. September 1910.
  9. ^ G., A. (January 1910). "In Womanland" (PDF). The Theosophist. 31 (4): 538.
  10. ^ "Book Notices". The Herald of the Cross. 6. Bradford and London: Percy Lund, Humphries & co.: 256 1910.
  11. ^ Wells, Louise Radford (December 1909). "Holiday Fiction" (PDF). New Thought. Chicago: New Thought Publishing Co.: 460.
  12. ^ C., M. (1909-12-01). "New Novels". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  13. ^ "Tales from Other Spheres" (PDF). Light: A Journal of Psychical, Occult and Mystical Research. 29 (1501): 500. 1909-10-16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-07-04. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  14. ^ Polzin, Matt (2022-10-28). "Grad Profile: Matt Polzin". The Humanities Institute - UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  15. ^ Funke, Jana (2023). "Lesbian-trans-feminist modernism and sexual science: Irene Clyde and Urania". In Carroll, Rachel; Tolan, Fiona (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Literature and Feminism. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003429951-18/lesbian-trans-feminist-modernism-sexual-science-jana-funke (inactive 15 July 2024). ISBN 978-1-00-342995-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2024 (link)
  16. ^ "Publication: Beatrice the Sixteenth". The Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
  17. ^ "Books and Things" (PDF). The Nautilus. 12 (11): 56. September 1910.
  18. ^ "Beatrice the Sixteenth: Being the Personal Narrative of Mary Hatherley, M.B., Explorer and Geographer (Mint Editions (Reading with Pride))". mitpressbookstore. 2023-06-06. Retrieved 2024-01-06.

Further reading

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  • Patai, Daphne; Ingram, Angela (1993). "Fantasy and Identity: The Double Life of a Victorian Sexual Radical". Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 265–302.
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