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Page 12/What She Wants/March, 1980

Review (continued from page 7)

figurehead, Lohania, her political sister with whom she makes love and shares lovers, and Kevin, a rash working class rebel whom she passionately loves and hates.

In the present and outside this group is Joel, a young draft resister she meets in a fugitives' hideout on Cape Cod. Their relationship evolves from a "false intimacy" prompted by their common circumstances to what appears to be genuine affection. As her past crumbles around her (Lohania goes to prison, Kevin dies in a shootout, and Leigh trades in his radical calling card for a tweed suit and a new wife), 'Vida turns to Joel for support. Joel, however, lacks Vida's survival instinct and is taken by the police. Left to her own devices, Vida is more determined than ever to meet life head on.

Although the plot reads like a leftist version of Scruples, Vida is an interesting attempt at giving life to the political casualties of the 1960's. The attempt is a feat in itself, considering that growth in the underground has inherent limitations. As Vida says, her life in the Network consists mainly of "marking time.... Generating rhetoric like an antiquated wind machine on the desert." Their lovers change, their slogans change, but because of imposed isolation, their politics never really change.

Yet Marge Piercy manages to fill 412 pages, many of which are spent in bed. But just as the group's political options are limited, so are their sexual op-

tions, which left me half hoping that Vida would at last rest peacefully in a convent.

Within the maze of sexual games, Piercy does attempt to deal with the covert sexism that acts as a destructive force in the left. She does this primarily through Natalie, Vida's sister. A married woman with children, Natalie, although central to Vida's life, remains peripheral to the group. She is censured for worrying about babysitters when the group is trying to plan a demonstration and for putting energy into the issue of rape, which the group considers on a par with mugging and toothaches. At the end of the novel, Natalie emerges strong and independent and becomes Vida's greatest outside source of strength.

Vida also succeeds in raising the question of violent versus non-violent political actions. It shows the frustrations of the 1960's which often led to action for the sake of action. Through the character of Leigh it shows the other extreme, the passive broadcaster whose rhetoric is louder than his actions. Natalie alone seems to offer a positive alternative in her concern for political content and awareness that revolutions must arise out of one's own times.

Vida, fortunately, does not try to dictate an answer. Ironically, however, the last political-action the Network undertakes is the bombing of a nuclear plant construction site. Their deed results in little damage and even less publicity, suggesting that we have, indeed, entered into a new political age requiring new strategies and more realistic goals.

Strong Wimmin (continued from page 10)

cart pulled by deer. As in most scenes of Diana (Artemis), her companions are all wimmin (nymphs). "She was one of the three maiden goddesses of Olympus {Aphrodite, Athena and Artemis]Artemis, lover of woods and the wild chase over the mountains....She was the protectress of dewy youth everywhere....When women died a swift and painless death, they were held to have been slain by her silver arrows. She was the moon goddess; cypress was sacred to her; and all wild animals, especially the deer."'

Another example of characteristics attributed to wimmin is the fountain figure of Abundance in the case across from the last. Abundance, or plenty, is also a womon-symbol. The sculpture is bronze and about 10 inches high. Originally used in Augsburg, Germany, water flowed from the breasts as a symbol of the life-giving sources of wimmin.

Pomona, a Roman divinity, is located in the next case further to the right. She is guardian of apple and other orchards. This 7-inch bronze statue is by Andrea Briosco, called Riccio. It is interesting to note that most nature-oriented divinities, such as Pomona, were portrayed as wimmin. The figure has a peaceful nature.

The next three works are all in the same case as Pomona. The first, Feast of the Gods, by Alessandro Vittoria, is mistitled, since there are three and possibly four goddesses in this relief sculpture. This is one example of sexist language in use at the Art Museum. One of the goddesses is Artemis, clearly shown with a crescent moon crown on her head. She is the moon goddess;; the moon's beams are her arrows and its slender arc her bow. Athena cannot be missed for her helmet and shield are always with her. Although the goddess of war, she is also "gentle, fair and thoughtful." Her Latin name, Minerva, is connected with the Sanskrit, Greek and Latin words for "mind". She is eternally a virgin, the goddess of wisdom, of skill, of contemplation, of spinning and weaving, of horticulture and agriculture."'" Aphrodite is on the water in the foreground of the relief. It is said she arose from the foam of the sea-hence her name, Aphrodite, or "foam-born". The fourth goddess represented on the left side of the relief is perhaps Hera. Her original function was of the "moon goddess, the chosen guardian of women,

their aid in seasons of distress."" In Hera, or Juno as the Romans called her, we can visualize the original Mother Goddess.

The story of the rape of Persephone is one of the earliest Homeric hymns, dating from 800-700 B.C. Pluto (Hades) forcefully carried Persephone into the underworld where he was the ruler. Her mother Demeter, goddess of the harvest, was grief-stricken and made the land barren. For one year nothing grew. Zeus intervened and returned Persephone to her. Joyfully reunited, they found as part of the condition of release that Persephone must return to Pluto four months every year. At the end of the four months, she returns to Demeter and the springtime comes with her. Thus Persephone dies each year after the harvest when she returns to Hades; in the spring she is reborn with her release to Demeter.

In the same case next to Persephone is the small bronze sculpture Nessus and Dejanira (1665) by Francesco Fanelli. Like Sextus Tarquinius Threatening Lucrece, it shows a graphic representation of rape. In this instance, Nessus, a centaur, is holding Dejanira against her will-her struggle and fear are evident in her face as well as in her uplifted arms.

Dejanira was the wife of Hercules. They lived together for three prosperous years. However, one time while traveling, they came to a river where the centaur Nessus carried across travelers. Hercules started across while Nessus attempted to carry Dejanira away. Hercules, hearing her cries, killed Nessus.

Part IV of "Strong Wimmin at the Cleveland Museum of Art" will deal with Greek and Roman, Egyptian, Oriental, Indian, Ancient Near Eastern, Oceanic, and Islamic art.

Footnotes:

1

Chicago, Judy, Dinner Party, p. 57.

2 Hamilton, Edith, Mythology, p. 32.

'Durant, Will, The Story of Civilization, Vol. III,

p. 18.

'Hamilton, pp. 31-32.

5 Gayley, Charles, The Classic Myths, p. 29. • Ibid., p. 28.

'Hamilton, p. 54.