Mizora

Lore & Background

Mizora was part of the late-nineteenth-century wave of utopian and dystopian fiction. It is the second known feminist utopian novel written by a woman, after Man's Rights (1870) by Annie Denton Cridge. The concept of an all-female society dates back to the Amazons of Greek mythology, but Lane's Mizora reproduces through parthenogenesis, eliminating the need for men. The novel also belongs to the hollow Earth literary tradition.

The story follows Vera Zarovitch, a young political fugitive from Czarist Russia who escapes into the Arctic and is swept over a waterfall into Mizora, an all-female society inside the Earth. The Mizorans practice eugenics, are all blonde 'Aryans,' and disdain darker-skinned people. Their society arose after a military general elected president (a version of Ulysses Grant) ran for a third term, leading to chaos and the eventual elimination of men. Vera spends fifteen years there, learning their advanced technology—such as videophones and artificial rain—and their customs, including a reversal of contemporary fashion: a narrow waist is considered a 'disgusting deformity.' She eventually returns to her own society, but her husband and son are dead, leaving her only with hope for future generations through universal education and eugenics.

Little is known of the author; Mrs. Lane did not want her husband to find out she was writing about a world better off without men. The second edition appeared in 1975, and it was re-released in 1999 by the University of Nebraska Press.

Reader's Guide

Mizora holds significance as a pioneering work of feminist utopian fiction, anticipating Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland by three decades. It makes frequent commentary on gender and race, reversing contemporary norms—such as the preference for tightly-corseted women—and addressing political repression in Russia and the Polish revolt of 1863. The novel's depiction of an all-female society that reproduces without men and uses advanced technology, including artificial meat and videophones, marks it as a landmark in speculative fiction. It was closely followed by other feminist utopian works, such as New Amazonia (1889) and Unveiling a Parallel (1893). Simultaneously, male utopian writers like Charles Bellamy and Linn Boyd Porter published works engaging with feminist issues. Mizora's legacy includes its role in the hollow Earth genre and its influence on later feminist science fiction, though its eugenicist and racist elements are noted as deeply questionable. The book remains a subject of study for its early exploration of gender, technology, and social structure.

Did You Know?

• Mizora is the second known feminist utopian novel written by a woman, after Man's Rights (1870).
• The Mizorans reproduce by parthenogenesis, not needing men for procreation.
• The novel features futuristic technology such as videophones and artificial rain made by discharging electricity.
• Little is known of the author; Mrs. Lane did not want her husband to know she was writing about a world without men.