"Suhela is a constant, like the acceleration of gravity"

September 9, 2020 4:31 AM

"In the capital, where our Queen lives, there are two universities." "Fifty Years in the Virtuous City" by Leo Mandel (originally published on Archive Of Our Own as part of a fanworks exchange) is a short story, told in glimpses over fifty years, about two women growing as scientists, administrators, and rivals in a utopian alternate-history South Asia. Audio version available; Seth Dickinson interviews the author. Mandel's fanfiction responds to "Sultana's Dream," a 1905 utopian feminist short story by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain.
posted by brainwane (4 comments total)

brainewane, you are the best!!!
posted by Literaryhero at 4:33 AM on September 9, 2020 [2 favorites]

Content note: a death by suicide occurs in the story.
posted by brainwane at 8:01 AM on September 9, 2020

Thank you for the link to Sultana's Dream - Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, aka Begum Rokeya, was a pioneer of women's liberation and an important figure in Bengali culture.
posted by unicorn chaser at 8:36 AM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

That was so lovely!
posted by geeklizzard at 3:15 AM on September 10, 2020 [1 favorite]