REVIEWS Feminist(?) Fairytales for Children

The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales from Around the World, by Ethel Johnston Phelps, illustrated by Lloyd Bloom. Rinehart and Winston, 1981, $10.95.

By Lorine M. Getz

This new work by the author of Tatterhood and Other Tales, Ethel Johnston Phelps, is a mixed blessing for feminist readers in search of rich imaginative experiences which depict women as psychologically independent and morally mature. Certainly these twenty-one previously neglected tales selected from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century collections of many cultures present a much more acceptable and realistic picture of women than do the more familiar sexist myths that modern feminist women have all first unknowingly embraced, then puzzled over, and finally come to resent and reject as demeaning, oppressive and misogynist. This new collection, which draws heavily from Nordic literature, presents spirited women who are often self-determined, assertive, powerful and crafty. The tales are clearly non-sexist in their form and content. Strong women abound who bravely rescue their stolen children, cleverly outwit evil wizards, powerfully intervene to save male would-be heroes, boldly break. societal taboos, and shrewdly manipulate their suitors.

Stressing in her Introduction that she has no intention to delve into the psychological or social meanings behind various traditional and familiar images of women in folk tales. but simply to move beyond the vast majority that are not acceptable or satisfying to today's readers, Phelps has chosen to retell folk tales whose women protagonists have self-confidence, act in their own right and possess a clear sense

of their own worth as women. Noting that the images of beautiful, blond, meek and dutiful traditionally imaged folk women have contemporary feminist readers, Phelps states that she has carefully combed modern folklore for stories of women who depict the

real qualities of women, especially earlier rural ones, whose strength, capability and resourcefulness have the potential to inspire, delight and enchant contemporary women.

In every age, but especially in our present era of

Interview with Diane Gelon

By Maureen Wells

What makes a talented, independent woman stop working on her Ph.D. in Art History after four years of work to donate the next six years of her life to an art project? Diane Gelon, the administrator, facilitator and fund raiser of The Dinner Party said she was at a crossroads in her life when she abandoned her degree to join Judy. Chicago's project.

As early as she could remember, Diane had been interested in art. She later learned to look at the world from a cultural history perspective and also became committed to feminism. Having grown disillusioned with the way women were portrayed in art and looking for a way to integrate her beliefs and values, she started the National Jewish Feminist Organization with another woman from New York when she was 23.

In 1973, when the Women's Building opened in Los Angeles, Diane said to herself, "I have to be a part of this". The only way she felt at the time she could be was to own a piece of Judy Chicago's art work. She immediately went home, counted her money, and returned to buy a drawing. In conjunction with the purchase, she met Judy Chicago. She laughed and joked about becoming a Judy Chicago groupie.

What gave Diane faith in Judy was the way she combined her art with her values and beliefs around feminism. Diane saw in The Dinner Party the opportunity to integrate her life.

In 1975, while Diane was in graduate school, Judy Chicago asked her if she could compile a list of 999 women. While researching the list, it also occurred to

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Diane that The Dinner Party would eventually need an administrator and recognized that she had the skills Judy's project needed. Judy was not looking for an administrator at that time, but Diane knew if Judy was going to create, she couldn't also answer the phone, write letters, interview and raise funds. So Diane created her own job. Of course, she didn't begin with all the skills she has now, but she grew and changed with the needs of The Dinner Party. There are still areas in which she wants to acquire skills because she is very concerned about artists' rights and their representation in the business world..

Of her plans to attend law school in September, Diane said, "It is not that I want to be a lawyer. I want the legal skills to enhance what I am already doing. The Dinner Party is at a place right now that I don't have to work full-time".

Diane sees herself as a facilitator to get funding for art she believes in. She wishes there were a thousand other people involved in what she is doing because "the hardest thing is to find good administrators who will work for little and give in the same way artists and performers do". On hearing Diane Gelon, I was very impressed. It was the first time in my life I perceived an administrator as a creative person. It was important for me to note that she didn't think it all through before-hand. Rather, she found a space where she felt comfortable and then created a job where she could use all her skills. Her past six years weren't planned; she struggled and gained skills as they were needed.

When I asked her what she had sacrificed, she said, "I didn't give up anything. I just got. What are a few (continued on page 12)

rapidly expanding women's consciousness, the need for a worldview and imaginative experiences suited to promoting women's ability to find meaning in and for their lives is critical. Phelps provides a great service to this cause for all her readers, female and male, when she portrays strong, noble women as typical rather than unique characters caught in existential dilemmas from which they are able successfully to extricate themselves, thereby signaling their development of emotions, imagination, intellect, skill and will power. However, to call these tales "feminist" as the book's subtitle insists is to overstate Phelps' achievement.

Phelps states in the Introduction that she has altered some of the tales "to make a more satisfying tale". In the story in which she claims to have made the most alterations and retold with the most freedom, "Fair Exchange," a non-moral Queen steals the most precious possession of a poor young woman-her healthy, dark-haired, rosy-cheeked infant son, replacing him with a squalling, fair-haired, sickly male child. The distraught mother searches for her son, the while nurturing the alien child. Finally discovering the fate of her own son, the young woman approaches the Queen with a gift-the Queen's own royal son, once sickly but now healthy and handsome. In exchange for the return and recovery of the son of royal stock as a handsome prince of the Queen's court, the young mother demands and receives her own son unharmed. For the woman's cool courage, the Queen rewards the young son. The Queen dismisses the two, saying, "Go in peace. The favor and good will of the fairy folk will stay with your child all of his life". That Phelps believes this story-the one she has most reworked to reflect feminist meaning suggests that Phelps presents a rather constricted view of feminism. A woman whose life's meaning revolves around her son and who gratefully accepts prosperity for this son as her own reward would seem not unlike the multitudes of dutiful mothers of would-be male heroes in many very traditional myths.

Though many of the female characters chosen by Phelps are presented as the daughters of matriarchs who display both their matrilineal and personal powers, none of these women lives in a world constructed of feminist symbols and values or is herself in any true sense a woman-identified woman. Certainly no woman in this collection seeks or experiences for her own ends a meaningful or lasting relationship with another woman. Peer relationships such as sisterhood among female characters is nonexistent. No such feminist phenomenon as mutuality, networking, collectivism or collaboration occurs among the women. Inevitably they seek to define themselves in relationships to males in predominantly male-defined worlds. Often the male is temporarily confused in the presence of a capable woman and must concede his own weakness or stupidity in her presence before entering into a relationship, usually marriage, with a powerful, self-reliant woman whom he seeks or needs to enhance his life. Not infrequently the male uses the wisdom or power of the strong woman to save himself or successfully to complete his mission. Thus her worth is male-identified and utilized. Symbols, values and realities are hardly radical or revolutionary, although they are less sexist ⚫ than those usually found in more familiar tales.

A final disappointment for the feminist reader of this collection lies in the fact not only that the work was illustrated by a male artist, but that the form and content of those illustrations are in every sense traditional. Furthermore, they are flat and static, presenting visual images which do not enchant or compel the imagination of any reader, much less those of

women.