Janice E. Dawley wrote:
> I believe you mean _Waking the Moon_. I read it last summer and was quite
> disappointed. I absolutely loved Hand's earlier novel _Winterlong_, and was
> hoping for something as good -- instead I found a heavy-handed (and much
> too lengthy) saga whose earthshaking insight was that women can be really
> evil. The faces of Kali, Othiym, whatever -- how new is it to symbolize
> women as either devourers or saints? I kept hoping that she would attempt
> to stretch the boundaries of gender definitions and portray something new,
> but my persistence was not rewarded. Frankly, I was amazed that this novel
> won the Tiptree award. Anyone have insight as to why? Or can anyone show me
> how I'm wrong in my reading of the novel?
Talk about different strokes for different folks! I found _Winterlong_
to be rather chilly and ascetic in feel. I just could not warm up to
it. On the other hand, I adored _Waking the Moon_.
What I thought Hand was doing there was playing against the modern
ideal of the nurturing, all-benevolent goddess. If we're to be full
human beings, we need to acknowledge that we are wrong at times. One of
the things that is wrong is the myth of the superwoman: the successful
career woman with the perfect family who is Martha Stewart on the side.
Most of us can't do that, and we shouldn't feel inferior if we don't
measure up to this impossible standard. I thought Hand was knocking the
goddess off her pedestal in the same way. She was giving her characters
the right to be wrong and the goddess to be a bitch in the same way that
male gods so frequently are cruel and capricious.
Berni Phillips
bernip@ix.netcom.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:28 PDT