Women's Worlds: Real and Magical

I finished Writing Women's Worlds, enjoying it greatly.  I wrote to the author, a professor at Columbia, to tell her so, and she very graciously wrote back, thanking me.  That's one of the nice things about reading a scholarly book: the writers are often not famous (other than in academia), and their email addresses are completely accessible on the websites of their schools.  If your email doesn't go in the person's junk mail box, you may get a reply.

I'm now almost finished with Isabel Allende's first novel, The House of the Spirits.  It's really quite good, and I don't know why I didn't get into it the first time I tried to read it.  It's a saga about a family in Chile, the Pruebas, from the turn of the 20th century into modern times.  They are an upper middle class family, land owners, who go through the turbulent 20th century and are affected by it in various ways.

What makes this novel different from others of its genre is that it incorporates magic realism in telling its story.  Magic realism is a technique that describes magical and supernatural events as if they were no big deal, placing them in an otherwise ordinary, realistic narrative.  At first, readers are startled to see magic in what they assumed was a realistic story (not science fiction, horror or fantasy), but eventually, they get used to it and come to accept it as natural and ordinary, the way the story's characters do.

But even though the magic elements stand out, they are not what make The House of the Sprits a great story.  In this story, it is the realism that gripped me.  When I think of sagas, I think of romance fiction and its ilk, since that's the genre where sagas normally appear.  But the family saga in this story is not in the least romantic because it shows the way people really act and think.  The main characters are all flawed, and their flaws cause them and the people around them great pain, even while their perfections give great joy. 

Because of the stark realism, it's hard to know who to root for in this story, but it seems that Allende gives the women a slight edge, though several of the men seem worthy of praise and admiration.  Wanting to know what happens to all the characters is what keeps me reading.

What is perhaps the most striking feature of this novel, though, is the wonderfully detailed descriptions of the people, places, and events of this (not entirely) imaginary world.  It presents a rich tapestry that is quite satisfying (especially if you like details).  It makes me wonder if James Lee Burke picked up this method from Allende. Maybe I'll ask him.

One thing I don't understand in this story, though, is why we occasionally get the first-person narration of the main character, Esteban.  Along those same lines, who is telling another part of the narrative and referring to her/himself as "I"?  Perhaps I'll find these things out before I finish the book.

I am enjoying it and recommend it highly.

Working Through the A's

I'm getting toward the end of Writing Women's Worlds, and learning this week about weddings and related customs.  I have been wondering throughout this book if much has changed since Lila last visited this society in 1989.  I should look that up and report back.

The next book on the list is a novel by Isabel Allende, the Chilean writer (and second cousin of ex-president Salvador Allende).  I've read a couple of her books, but the one I have planned is her first: The House of the Spirits, which was made into a movie by the same name in 1993: The House of the Spirits.  Though it starred Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep and Glenn Close, it was not well received. I've never seen it, myself.  Maybe I'll give it a go after I read the book.

I started reading House of the Spirits once before but didn't get very far.  This time I hope to finish it. More later.

From Desert Solitaire to Desert Solidarity

I finished Desert Solitaire, although by the end I was starting to lose interest, I must say. I'll probably go back and read the ending again sometime; maybe my mindset will be different by then.

Right now I'm reading the next book on the list, Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories, by Lila Abu-Lughod, a Palestinian-American anthropologist. She has written about the Bedouins of Egypt before. This time she focuses on women and aspects of their lives, from birth to death.

Lila writes beautifully, and the stories are very interesting and enlightening. One of things that has finally been made clear to me is the impact modernization has had on Muslim cultures. We think that modernization is all good, but it is really the reason for the tightening of restrictions on women. Before, in their rather isolated societies, women were freer, paradoxically, because the dangers of the outside world were not felt. Women were safe within their kinship circles because the men were all relatives. When the world intrudes with its strangers, women have to retreat to their households and spend all their time outside covered up to avoid being seen by non-relatives. It's not comfortable for them; they don't like it, but the reality of being surrounded by strangers leaves them with no alternative, given their cultural/religious restrictions of only being "themselves" around family.

Of course, we would say: change your culture, then! Not any easy or a quick solution, because women who try it are only viewed as non-honorable, "fallen" women (as they used to call them in our culture).

Lila's book takes us behind the scenes and shows us the women relatively unguarded and what they think. It's a fascinating look at a culture we don't often readily understand.

I'm enjoying the book very much. Though it is a scholarly work, I recommend it highly.