-The Discovery of a New World

A satirical novel in the tradition of Lucian’s True History, this work describes the unexplored Antarctic continent, including the state of Viraginia. Hall’s imagined nation and its capital, Gynaecopolis, or City of Women, is run entirely by women. While a nation led by women might seem like a positive feminist utopia, Hall’s satire depicts this society as a dystopia. Women in the parliament of Viraginia are free to speak but engage in endless debate as everyone tries to speak at the same time, and the women of Aphrodisia wear excessive amounts of makeup and spend all their time shopping. Hall intended his work to be a satirical take on what he perceived to be the moral problems of London. This work was originally published pseudonymously in 1605, but Hall’s authorship was commonly known. John Milton, author of Paradise Lost, attacked Hall over his satires in a religious argument over the bishops of the Church of England. Despite the satirical and dystopian nature of this work, it was read alongside More’s Utopia and Bacon’s New Atlantis, the three being published together in a 1643 collected work.