Building Hope Through Community in Élisabeth Vonarburg’s The Maerlande Chronicles

Abstract

This chapter analyzes an iconic Québécois sf novel, Élisabeth Vonarburg’s The Maerlande Chronicles, through the lens of feminist theory. Contextualizing Vonarburg’s work within the development of science fiction in Québec and Margaret Atwood’s problematic relationship with the genre, Mosser identifies the work of both writers as “meta-utopian.” Vonarburg’s novel, originally published in French in 1992, presents two major narratives, both of which reflect a need for the “bridging of solitudes,” as this involves a form of inclusion and collaboration between gendered individuals that accepts and celebrates differences rather than erasing them through enforced normativity. Vonarburg responds to the oppressive values that underlie separatist feminist utopias by bridging the gender gap.