The Mune: a speculative feminist utopia beyond the gender binary

‘The Mune: a speculative feminist utopia beyond the gender binary’ comprises a speculative work of my own creation, The Mune, alongside a critical commentary that reflects on my creative process and aims to contextualise my work within the genre of Speculative Fiction. The Mune is a multi-generational narrative which charts the experience of a group of ‘surplus’ Victorian mothers and their children, who are shipwrecked on a mysterious island in a parallel universe. Told by multiple narrators, the novel imagines an alternative history: one free of patriarchy, which affords the characters a chance to redefine their gender roles and those of their children, whilst speculating on the conditions necessary for them to evolve. The thesis considers aspects of the process of composition, covering some of the personal experiences that inspired and informed the development of my novum, the theory and literature that informed my creative choices and new scientific and theoretical developments which have impacted on the narrative.