Talk:Sultana's Dream

Untitled
The statement that Sultana's Dream possesses one of the first examples of gender role reversal does not seem to be correct. The first example of gender role reversal that I am aware of occurs in Aristophanes' Lysistrata (411 BC)

Language
The article says that the book was first published in English; was it originally written in English, or subsequently published in Bengali? --Mel Etitis ( Talk ) 13:09, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

See also link
How is The Begum's Fortune by Jules Verne related to *this* novel? --Ragib (talk) 23:18, 14 November 2008 (UTC)
 * A tangental (is that the word?) association. Very early science fiction with a utopian overlay, one with "begum" in the title, and one by an author widely known by the honorific. People who are interested in one may be intrigued to learn about the other.  Wikipedia grows by these links, though agreed it is not a strong enough connection to integrate into the body of the text. BrainyBabe (talk) 08:48, 15 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't think there is *any* relation between the two novels. I've read Sultana's Dream and also read a translation of Begum's Fortune, and the relationship are not even remotely close. "Begum" is a common prefix used by many women, for example the politician Khaleda Zia. So, I want to remove the link as it is quite confusing. --Ragib (talk) 09:05, 15 November 2008 (UTC)


 * It depends what you mean by "relation". I've read "Sultana's Dream", and I've read the wiki article on Verne's novel. They seem to me to have a legitimate connection, in that they are, as I said, very early science fiction, late nineteenth and turn of the twentieth century; there is not such a huge amount of that material.  Both stories use satire as social commentary, one of gender relations, one of military expansion.  Readers of the 21st century who stumble across one of our Wikipedia articles may find their reading pleasure increased by being pointed towards the other.  How could it confuse? I will add a gloss to clarify the "see also" link. BrainyBabe (talk) 09:23, 15 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Ok, with the explanatory note, it looks better. (The confusion is real - even I, having read both the novels in the past, was confused.) The novels are similar in social commentary ... not by virtue of the word Begum. Now that you mentioned that in the note beside the link, it has become clearer how the other novel is related to this one. Thanks. --Ragib (talk) 10:04, 15 November 2008 (UTC)