Three Hundred Years Hence
Encyclopedia
Three Hundred Years Hence is a utopian
science fiction novel by author Mary Griffith
. It is the first known utopian novel written by an American woman and was published by Prime Press
in 1950 in an edition of 300 copies. The novel was originally published in 1836 as part of Griffith's collection, Camperdown, or News from Our Neighborhood.
's original Utopia
and many imitators), or in a different time. Griffith was the earliest American writer to project her protagonist into the future to encounter a vastly improved social order. Many successors would follow her example; most famously, Edward Bellamy
used the same trick in his Looking Backward
(1888), as did many of the writers who produced sequels and responses to his work. The same tactic is exploited in John Macnie's The Diothas
(1883), W. H. Hudson
's A Crystal Age
(1887), Elizabeth Corbett's New Amazonia
(1889), Bradford Peck's The World a Department Store
(1900), Charlotte Perkins Gilman
's Moving the Mountain
(1911), and other works.
----
Another, later book bears the same title: William Delisle Hay called his 1881 work Three Hundred Years Hence or A Voice From Posterity, probably in ignorance of Griffith's earlier but then-obscure work.
and McComas
characterized the novel as "an odd and delightful item of 1836 dealing with a strongly feminist future.".
Utopian and dystopian fiction
The utopia and its offshoot, the dystopia, are genres of literature that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal world, or utopia, as the setting for a novel. Dystopian fiction is the opposite: creation of a nightmare world, or dystopia...
science fiction novel by author Mary Griffith
Mary Griffith
Mary Griffith was an American writer, horticulturist and scientist. Born Mary Corre, she married John Griffith, a wealthy New York City merchant who died in 1815. After the death of her husband she purchased an estate in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey...
. It is the first known utopian novel written by an American woman and was published by Prime Press
Prime Press
Prime Press, Inc. was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing house founded in 1947. It was founded by Oswald Train, James A. Williams, Alfred C. Prime, and Armand E. Waldo who were all members of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. The founders originally intended...
in 1950 in an edition of 300 copies. The novel was originally published in 1836 as part of Griffith's collection, Camperdown, or News from Our Neighborhood.
Plot introduction
The novel concerns a hero who falls into a deep sleep and awakens in the Utopian states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.Successors
Writers of utopian fiction generally need to set their imagined societies either in a remote place (as in Sir Thomas MoreThomas More
Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...
's original Utopia
Utopia (book)
Utopia is a work of fiction by Thomas More published in 1516...
and many imitators), or in a different time. Griffith was the earliest American writer to project her protagonist into the future to encounter a vastly improved social order. Many successors would follow her example; most famously, Edward Bellamy
Edward Bellamy
Edward Bellamy was an American author and socialist, most famous for his utopian novel, Looking Backward, set in the year 2000. He was a very influential writer during the Gilded Age of United States history.-Early life:...
used the same trick in his Looking Backward
Looking Backward
Looking Backward: 2000-1887 is a utopian science fiction novel by Edward Bellamy, a lawyer and writer from western Massachusetts; it was first published in 1887...
(1888), as did many of the writers who produced sequels and responses to his work. The same tactic is exploited in John Macnie's The Diothas
The Diothas
The Diothas; or, A Far Look Ahead is a 1883 utopian novel written by John Macnie and published using the pseudonym "Ismar Thiusen". The Diothas has been called "perhaps the second most important American nineteenth-century ideal society" after Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward .-Synopsis:The novel...
(1883), W. H. Hudson
William Henry Hudson
William Henry Hudson was an author, naturalist, and ornithologist.- Life and work :Hudson was born in the Quilmes, a borough of the greater Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, son of settlers of U.S. origin...
's A Crystal Age
A Crystal Age
A Crystal Age is a utopian novel written by W. H. Hudson, first published in 1887. The book has been called a "significant S-F milestone" and has been noted for its anticipation of the "modern ecological mysticism" that would evolve a century later....
(1887), Elizabeth Corbett's New Amazonia
New Amazonia
New Amazonia: A Foretaste of the Future is a feminist utopian novel, written by Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett and first published in 1889. It was one element in the wave of utopian and dystopian literature that marked the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.-The plot:In her novel, Corbett...
(1889), Bradford Peck's The World a Department Store
The World a Department Store
The World a Department Store: A Story of Life Under a Coöperative System is a utopian novel written by Bradford C. Peck, and published by him in 1900. The book was one entrant in the wave of utopian and dystopian writing that occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries...
(1900), Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a prominent American sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction, and a lecturer for social reform...
's Moving the Mountain
Moving the Mountain (novel)
Moving the Mountain is a feminist utopian novel written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It was published serially in Perkins Gilman's periodical The Forerunner and then in book form, both in 1911. The book was one element in the major wave of utopian and dystopian literature that marked the later...
(1911), and other works.
----
Another, later book bears the same title: William Delisle Hay called his 1881 work Three Hundred Years Hence or A Voice From Posterity, probably in ignorance of Griffith's earlier but then-obscure work.
Critical reception
Reviewing the 1950 edition, BoucherAnthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
and McComas
J. Francis McComas
Jesse Francis McComas was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe....
characterized the novel as "an odd and delightful item of 1836 dealing with a strongly feminist future.".
Publication history
- 1836, USA, Carey, Lea & Blanchard , Pub date 1836, Hardback, included in Camperdown, or News from Our Neighborhood
- 1950, USA, Prime PressPrime PressPrime Press, Inc. was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing house founded in 1947. It was founded by Oswald Train, James A. Williams, Alfred C. Prime, and Armand E. Waldo who were all members of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. The founders originally intended...
, Pub date 1950, Hardback, first separate publication - 1975, USA, Gregg PressGregg PressGregg Press was founded about 1965 by Charles Gregg in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey to distribute in the United States the antiquarian reprints published in the UK by Gregg Press International....
ISBN 0839823037, Pub date 1975, Hardback