New Amazonia: A Foretaste of the Future (1889) is a novel by Elizabeth
Burgoyne Corbett. In June 1889, British novelist and President of the
Women's National Anti-Suffrage League Mary Augusta Ward published her
reactionary essay "An Appeal Against Female Suffrage" in The Nineteenth
Century. In response, Corbett penned New Amazonia, a feminist utopian
novel which depicts the emergence of an advanced society of women in the
not-so-distant future. While little is known about Corbett, her
surviving novels and stories suggest she was a passionate campaigner for
women's suffrage in an era of conservative politics and traditional
values. "'This country is New Amazonia. A long time ago it was called
Erin by some, but Ireland was the name it was best known by. It used to
be the scene of perpetual strife and warfare. Our archives tell us that
it was subjugated by the warlike English, and that it suffered for
centuries from want and oppression.'" Having fallen asleep for hundreds
of years, a Victorian man and woman emerge to a vastly different world.
Following a devastating war between Britain and Ireland, the British
repopulated their colony with women deemed to be surplus. On New
Amazonia, these women came to control all aspects of government and
culture, leading to the eradication of corruption and oppression.
Scientifically advanced, the Amazonians have developed a technique for
strengthening the human body and increasing the lifespan of women by
hundreds of years. Mesmerized by what she finds in this fascinating new
world, the narrator records her reactions alongside those of her male
counterpart, who remains openly hostile to the Amazonians throughout.
For its depiction of an advanced matriarchal society and celebration of
feminist ideals, New Amazonia: A Foretaste of the Future remains an
important early work of utopian science fiction. With a beautifully
designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of
Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett's New Amazonia: A Foretaste of the Future
is a classic of feminist utopian fiction reimagined for modern readers.
