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The Empire of the Nairs, or, the Rights of Women: An Utopian Romance in Twelve Books

1811 Subjects: Utopias, Women's rights Forms: Fiction Translation Status: Extended, Self-translation English London URL

Authors of source text

James Henry Lawrence

Contributions

James Henry Lawrence: translator
Thomas Hookham: publisher

Related resources

is translation of: Das Reich der Nairen, oder das Paradies der Liebe has translation

Held by

British Library

Notes

Lawrence's "utopian romance" developed in stages. In 1793 he was encouraged to translate an essay he'd written into German – he had studied at the University of Göttingen – by Christoph Martin Wieland, who published it in his journal, Der Neue Teutsche Merkur. The essay promoted the marriage and inheritance customs of the Hindu Nair castes of Malabar (now the state of Kerala). It was self-translated and published by Symonds and Ridgway in 1794, complete with its unorthodox phonetic spelling.

With the encouragement of Friedrich Schiller, Lawrence completed a novel in German, based on these themes, in 1800. It was published in the Journal des Romane the following year, as 'Das Paradies der Liebe', then reprinted as 'Das Reich der Nairen'. The book was subsequently translated into French (1807) and English (1811) by the author. The English translation was much modified from the original, and had an introduction advocating the introduction of Nair customs, such as sexual freedom and female independence, into Europe. Its attack on the institution of marriage and advocacy of matrilineal lineage was influenced by the writings of Godwin and Wollstonecraft.

Despite being well received in Germany, its reception in England was more frosty. From the Critical Review (Aug 1811): "… there is no English lady, but who, after the first glimpse, will, we are assured, throw it down in disgust and indignation… We do not attempt to give any account of the take, which is at once absurd, improbable, indecent, immoral, and fit only for the flames… So much for the German romances, German morality, and German nonsense". It went through two editions in 1811 and was reprinted in 1813.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was an admirer, as was the publisher Richard Carlile and the American politician, Aaron Burr, who visited Lawrence in London. Shelley wrote glowingly to Lawrence about his book, in 1812, and incorporated some of its ideas about free love into 'Queen Mab' (1813), and other works.

See Gregory Claeys, 'The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature' (CUP, 2010).