Fair New World, a savage satire of political correctness and radical feminism, is the most political incorrect novel ever written.
The 25th anniversary edition of Fair New World, introduced by Daphne Patai, and with a foreword by Hardy Orbs, has just been released by Waterside Productions Inc.
Read Waterside’s 2019 press release here.
Order Fair New World on Amazon here.
Read Fair New World‘s back stories and reviews here (1994-95)
Fair New World was originally published in 1994 by Backlash Books. An immediate succès de scandale, it represented the author’s farewell gift to those politically correct universities that were preferentially hiring lesser-qualified women over better-qualified men, and demonizing men, maleness, and masculinity in the process.
Fair New World is a political and sexual satire, portraying two dystopias, called Feminania and Bruteland, and a utopia called Melior. Feminania is ruled by feminism’s fantasies run amok; Bruteland is a backlash state run by violent male chauvinists; while Melior (Latin for “better”) is the author’s vision of political, social, and sexual sanity.
Fair New World is a savage yet poignant satire of political correctness. It ridicules extremes of gender discrimination and reverse-discrimination alike. It sounds alarms about the dire consequences of politicizing the eternal power struggle between the sexes. It’s a novel For our times, and for all times.
Fair New World is the scourge of political absurdities that pass for remedies in the most “progressive” (that is, degenerate) circles of Western civilization even today. But its trenchant warnings of the threat that political correctness poses to liberty were not heeded in 1994. Thus, as reviewer John Frary observes, Tafler set out to write satire but ended up writing prophecy.
“Fair New World is that rare thing: an entirely independent-minded book that is fearless in its satire of existing orthodoxies, no matter which direction they come from … The novel is a living example of the importance of free speech and free thought, rarely found these days in higher education, and that is only one of the many reasons that it is a valuable teaching tool.”
— Daphne Patai, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
“… as if George Orwell had collaborated with Kurt Vonnegut”
— Andrew Irvine, University of British Columbia
“It’s the most politically incorrect work of art I have ever seen. It’s also hilariously funny and scathingly insightful.”
— Karen Selick, Canadian Lawyer Magazine, March 1995
“Tafler’s book attempts to depict how a politically correct world would actually appear. To the casual reader some of these excursions may appear too bizarre to be taken seriously. The truth, however, is more disturbing. Fair New World satirizes the actual daily life in a growing number of North American universities.”
— David Smith, SAFS Newsletter, July 1995
“Fair New World … is so outrageously politically incorrect that most publishers would probably be afraid to put their imprint on it. This is high praise, indeed.”
— Karen Selick, Balance, Spring 1995
“Readers will recognize in Feminania both stereotypical femininity and stereotypical feminism–but the latter rings soberingly true. Using a mixture of pathetic, hilarious, and frightening excesses of feminism, Tafler successfully and most readably extrapolates current sexual correctness trends into the future … this finely written book gives one much to laugh and cry about, all the while absorbing the reader and conveying a potent political message. It is highly recommended.”
— Joseph Fulda, Sexuality and Culture, Autumn 1997
“Fair New World is a political novel focused on the war between the sexes. Its genre is obviously that of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Huxley’s Brave New World–and it stands comparison to these classics in its style, depth and satirical wit … The first society, Feminania, is dominated by feminism-run-amok. The second, Bruteland, embodies extreme ‘machismo’ values (reminiscent of certain American cities). And the third, Melior, outlines Tafler’s vision of social sanity … Elements of deliciously taboo-smashing realism grade into a relentlessly detailed surrealism which, more than once, takes the reader over the edge of the politically unthinkable and unsayable. It may be a nightmare into which we plunge, but it is a poignantly contemporary nightmare. This book just may wake some people up–if anything can.”
— Kurt Preinspurg, Philosophy Department, Vancouver Community College
Fair New World is an acerbic political nightmare satirizing … a war whose scars are teethmarks at the center of Eden’s sour apple, here reconstituted along the lines of Swift, Orwell and Vonnegut: marinated in three times its volume of acid royal.
— Michael Godfrey, English Department, Dawson College, Montreal
Fair New World is a novel that manages marvellously to be serious, alarming and funny all at the same time … Swiftian in the savagery of its humour, which is directed at the veryreal and present dangers inherent in radical feminism and political correctness running amok, with the possibility of an extremist and fascistic “masculinist” reaction lurking in the dark corners. Tafler reduces to absurdity current cultural tendencies by pushing them to their utmost logical–and irrational–development. The most alarming feature of the book is the insanely and sytematically feminized language of Feminania, the feminist utopia, he limns so amusingly … After reading it for a few pages it suddenly begins to seem so natural that one ceases to have recourse to the glossary at the back of the book. Now that’s really scary.
— Donald Todd, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Simon Fraser University
“… a Swiftian combination of a utopian and dystopian vision … Tafler brings into play an abundance of invention, verbal ebullience and wit. These, together with an eye for and relish in the absurd and ridiculous, serve his anger as he satirizes the excesses of feminism and political correctness of the con-temporary scene … The best part of this book is the sheer and abundant ingenuity that went into devising the culture and institutions of Feminania and Bruteland, as well as the unfolding drama of their secret relations with each other that culminate in a war … Tafler characterizes the excesses of affirmative action and political correctness as irrational and vicious efforts to reverse rather than right past wrongs … Without men, women become travesties of themselves …”
— Kay Stockholder, Professor Emerita of English Literature, University of British Columbia
Read Waterside’s 2019 press release here.
Order Fair New World on Amazon here.
Read Fair New World‘s back stories and reviews here (1994-95)