Mizora A Prophecy

This new edition of Mizora about an 1880s radical feminist utopia includes a new, extensive introduction—a groundbreaking scholarly treatment of the work—that provides a critical apparatus to appropriately place Mizora and author Mary E. Bradley Lane in the cultural and historical context of the nineteenth century. A precursor to Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, Mizora is the first all female utopian novel in American literature. The novel follows its heroine Vera Zarovitch, a stalwart, husky woman from the Russian nobility who, after exile to Siberia, withstands the rigors of the Arctic wastelands to become the first woman to reach the North Pole. She becomes caught up in a whirling current that rushes her through walls of amber mists and drops her in the sweet-scented atmosphere of a land lying in the earth's interior—Mizora, a three-thousand-year-old feminist utopia.

What would happen to our culture if men ceased to exist? Mary E. Bradley Lane explores this question in Mizora, the first known feminist utopian novel written by a woman. Vera Zarovitch is a Russian noblewoman-heroic, outspoken, and determined. A political exile in Siberia, she escapes and flees north, eventually finding herself, adrift and exhausted, on a strange sea at the North Pole. Crossing a barrier of mist and brilliant light, Zarovitch is swept into the enchanted, inner world of Mizora. A haven of music, peace, universal education, and beneficial, advanced technology, Mizora is a world of women. Mizora appeared anonymously in the Cincinnati Commercial in 1880 and 1881. Mary E. Bradley Lane concealed from her husband her role in writing the controversial story.

The narrative of Vera Zarovitch, published in the Cincinnati Commercial in 1880 and 1881, attracted a great deal of attention. It commanded a wide circle of readers, and there was much more said about it than is usual when works of fiction run through a newspaper in weekly installments. Quite a number of persons who are unaccustomed to bestowing consideration upon works of fiction spoke of it, and grew greatly interested in it.

Mizora (1890) is a novel by Mary E. Bradley Lane. Originally serialized between 1880 and 1881 in the Cincinnati Commercial, the novel was rediscovered a decade later and printed by prominent editor Murat Halstead. While little is known about Lane, she seems to have been a dedicated feminist and a gifted writer who nevertheless, by the time Halstead reached out to republish her work, seemed to want nothing to do with the appearance of Mizora in novel form. Regardless, Mizora remains a pioneering work of feminist utopian science fiction and an early example of the hollow earth subgenre of science fiction and fantasy. “Overhead, clouds of the most gorgeous hues, like precious gems converted into vapor, floated in a sky of the serenest azure. The languorous atmosphere, the beauty of the heavens, the inviting shores, produced in me a feeling of contentment not easily described. To add to my senses another enjoyment, my ears were greeted with sounds of sweet music, in which I detected the mingling of human voices.” Princess Vera Zarovitch has lived a tragic life. Born into wealth, she studied in Paris and gained an understanding of the world beyond Tsarist Russia. Imprisoned for criticizing the state after witnessing her friend’s murder at the hands of Russian soldiers, she escapes with a party of smugglers toward the North Pole. Following a devastating shipwreck, their party takes refuge with the local Eskimo, who care for the captain until his death from exposure. Abandoned by the men tasked with bringing her to safety, Vera is lost in a storm. When she awakens, she finds herself in the underground world of Mizora, where an advanced society of women has eliminated war and poverty altogether. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Mary E. Bradley Lane’s Mizora is a classic of feminist utopian science fiction reimagined for modern readers.

Being a true and faithful account of her Journey to the Interior of the Earth, with a careful description of the Country and its Inhabitants, their Customs, Manners and Government.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Mizora: A Prophecy" (A MSS. Found Among the Private Papers of the Princess Vera Zarovitch) by Mary E. Bradley Lane. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Mary E. Bradley, later Mrs. Lane who also wrote under the pseudonym Princess Vera Zarovitch, was an American author. Mizora: A Prophecy is a utopian novel by Mary E. Bradley Lane and was first published serially in 1880-1881. In it an all-female "utopia" exists in the centre of the Earth. They reproduce through parthenogenesis, practice eugenics, and all of them are blonde "Aryan" types. As a utopian novel it did devote some time to the futuristic technology they had such as "videophones. " It is said men are more forgotten than they are hated. The "utopia" also "works" through universal education and "good examples" by the leadership. The author was nearly anonymous as Mrs. Lane did not want her husband to find out she was writing about the world being better off without men. Interestingly the book's full title is quite long. The full title is Mizora: A Prophecy: A Mss. Found Among the Private Papers of Princess Vera Zarovitch: Being a True and Faithful Account of her Journey to the Interior of the Earth, with a Careful Description of the Country and its Inhabitants, their Customs, Manners, and Government.