I don't know why I've been stalling
this review for so long. It could be partly because these past few
weeks have been very busy, and partly because I'm slightly scared of
writing about feminism. If I do that, I'll have to define, in some
way or other, where I stand. And while I am a feminist, some way or
other, I find so many other subjects to engage in, that I've hardly
thought it through. This is, I'm afraid, going to be more of a
quote-fest and less of an actual review. The quotes do represent some
of the most important things I got from the book though, so I hope
it's all right.
When I was searching all the second
hand book shops for this (and the rest of the books on the list),
everyone kept telling me how popular, radical and exciting this book
was when it came out in the 70s. First published in 1973, I imagined
the issues would be forty years old as well.
"So I learned about women from men. I saw them through the eyes of male writers. Of course, I didn't think of them as male writers. I thought of them as writers, as authorities, as gods who knew and were to be trusted completely." p.145
This is one of the books in which I
have folded down most corners. Needless to say, the character I
sympathise the most with is Isadora Wing, the main character. I don't
sympathise with all her actions. For some reason, although I have
never (as far as I know) been cheated on, I've never been able to
stand people who have affairs or are unfaithful to their partner in
any way. The only good thing about how she leaves her husband is that
he is completely aware of it before it happens. Yet there are so many
other thoughts and ideas of hers that I recognise as my own.
"I had gone to graduate school because I loved literature, but in graduate school you were not supposed to study literature. You were supposed to study criticism." p.180
"Whenever I was home, I wanted to get away, and whenever I got away I wanted to go home again." p. 214
All the quoted reviews on the back and
inside the cover make the book sound like it's all about sex and
sexual freedom. I don't think it is. It covers subjects such as being
a woman, or an artist, or an American Jew, living in Germany some
years after the war, travelling, stereotypes, academia,
psychoanalysis... And probably a few more I've forgotten. In addition
to discussing sex and sexual freedom.
"All natural disasters are comforting because they reaffirm our impotence, in which, otherwise, we might stop believing. At times it is strangely sedative to know the extent of your own powerlessness." p. 188
"There are no atheists on turbulent airplanes." p. 211
"Even Bennett, with all his supposed psychology and insight, maintained that men tried to pick me up all the time because I conveyed my 'availability' – as he put it. Because I dressed too sexily. Or wore my hair too wantonly. Or something. I deserved to be attacked, in short. It was the same old jargon of the war between the sexes, the same old fifties lingo in disguise: there is no such thing as rape; you ladies ask for it. You laidies." p. 247
That
this was a problem in the seventies and still is, is extremely sad. I
even find myself thinking something similar sometimes, when I read
about attempted rape in the newspapers. How can I think that? Then I
shouldn't be able to wear all the short skirts that I do
wear.
I really enjoyed this book. Even when I
disagree with Jong, she's a good writer, and a funny one, even though
she uses the alliteration technique you learn in writing class far
too many times. I am tempted to read more of her books, only I am
afraid of being disappointed. I need to read more about her, anyway.
Off I go.
*This edition: 1975, Granada Publishing Limited
Now I realize that I, too, did away with impressions on feminism... But I'm sure you agree that it wasn't hard with this book in particular, as it deals with so many other things as well.
SvarSlettI mean, of course there is a constant discussion about Isadora trying to "liberate herself" from the shackles of a chauvinistic tradition which has been supported by the dominant babbling of psychoanalysts, and this kind of liberation I sympathize with, and support, of course. But at the same time, she's such an unstable character that she even seems to "cosificarse" (thingify, we say in Spanish, and it sounds even harsher, but objectify is more appropriate in English, I suppose) quite often, but this triggers two other thoughts:
One, that habit might as well be a repercussion of her own childhood and of growing up in such a chauvinistic environment - which, oddly enough, doesn't seem to be perpetrated by her father, at all, rather by her sisters and mother, and this goes a long way to show the saddening deep roots that chauvinism has laid in her society, and ours - so perhaps we need not blame her for this.
Two, that she doesn't seem to have a clear North (or South, East, West for that matter) to guide her own feminism. Instead she's just trying to break free (overcome her fear or flying?), regardless of where that takes her. That's also where writing is her way of making a compass, I think.
Is this maybe where you disagree with Jong?