McIntyre, Sheila

Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)

Old Woman at Play, Adele Wiseman, Toronto: Clark Irwin, 1978,148 pp., $14.95.Sheila MclntyreNo book possesses something for everyone; but this book comesclose. By exploring her mother's devotio~, for over a quartercentury, to the making of dolls, Adele Wlseman attempts to .examine, articulate, celebrate and share the nature of the creatIveprocess. She achieves all of thi s and ~ore - she .c?nstruc~s amoving and eloquent work of art which exemplifies the rich-ness of the process she descri bes.Wiseman \V'eaves together descriptions of individual dolls, his-tory, biography and autobiography,. art criticism and her .ownpersonal moral and creative values, I n order to engage us I n boththe mysteries and enchantments of her mot~er's ~rt. In her sen-sitivity to these materials, her sen?e of relatIonship a~d her .feelfor verbal tailoring, she is not unlIke her mother. Chalka Wals-man has a reverence for all things in nature. She finds her mater-ials everywhere, mating fishbones and deterge~t bottl~s, drift-wood and onion bags, sequins and styrofoam, In creatIons fas-cinating for their individual detail and for their overall integ-rity.There is no casual accident involved in her providing the mer-maid's lover with dinky-toy, double-decker bus eyes, or in herhanging a medicine bottle on her tree of life.Similarly, there is design and decorum in the way Wisemanthreads memories of Depression Winnipeg, revelations abouther own goals as a writer, and observations about the relation-ship connecting grandmother) mother and grand-daughterthroughout her narratiye. The structural integration of OldWoman at Play is astonishing.Chaika Waisman gathers stray objects and gives them companyin works of art where each button, fabric or bone sits insympathetic relation with its companion pieces. She p:ovid~seach doll, even (or especially) the hunchback, the thalIdomideand the, dwarf dolls with a mate or a family. The dolls are thengiven away so that they and their recipients each have com-pany. The process is all of a whole.Her vision, social and ar-tistic, is inclusive and expansive - generous in the broadestsense of the word.To her daughter Chaika Waisman has passed on this gift. Ad-ele's vision, too,'is all-embracing. What moves her to art and inart is the discovery of relationship, the stretching of compre-hension to encompass and enlarge existing reality. Wiseman'ssharing with us of the creative impulse she and her mothershare, is a tru Iy generous gift.It is as blessed to give as to receive this book. Quite simply, OldWoman at Play is good company.107Praxis, Fay Weldon,,,Toronto: Musson Books, 1978, 251 pp.,$12.95.Doris AndersonIn Fay Weldon's earlier novels we have come to expect a rare,almost sombre insight on the female condition leavened with anascerbic sense of humor, rinsed absolutely clean of any qualitythat might blur into sentimentality. Weldon women are oftendriven mad, raging and ridiculous but the reader is never ex-pected to feel sorry for them. Other smug, satisfied, self-congratulatory creatures may pride themselves on their goodfortune in possessing handsome, ambitious husbands, rosy-cheeked children, well-appointed urban homes. But in the nextchapter these very same women might be grovelling along insolitary. misery in a basement flat and cooking on a two-burnerplate. None of the tragedies or accidents of luck that befallthese women seems to have any connection with either flawsin their character or any particular will or endeavor on theirpart.There are women who scheme in Weldon's novels. They plotto get men or money - and often men are desired only be-cause they bring money with them. The schemers are moregrasping selfish and single-minded than their sisters butusually only temporarily successful in their schemes. Wel-don's heroines - if they can be called that - simply muddlethrough as best they can. Timid, passive creatures, theyrarely raise their heads above the swampland of unwantedpregnancies, compliant sex, and rnyriads of drudging chores.In her latest novel, Praxis, the humor abounds; the leanstripped-do~n prose delights; and the familiar ability tosnare the exact female circumstance and thumb-tack it inplace is there. But the plot-line is so loaded with so manyevents that the book reads almost like an allegory of Every-woman Today. So much happens to the main character,Praxis Duveen, illegitimate daughterofadrunken Jewishgambler and his pretty romantic partner, that there areenough events to provide for six novels.We see Praxis first as a beguiling blond five-year-old on abeach with her mother and older sister Hypatia. Soon hermother is deserted and subsequently goes mad. The two littlegirls survive, grow up and go on repeating all the same in-dignities that happened to their mother in their own lives.Hypatia shuns marriage and bends her talents to a career,which is really an extension of the badge-earning she ex-celled at in school. Praxis keeps getting tripped up bymen with a clearer idea of their own wants and ambitions.She is willingly conned into lending her body, her earningcapacity and her domestic skills for male ends. But even themen are not malevolent or even masterful - just more self-ish, demanding and clear-headed about their own ends. Sheis constantly tripped up by children generally born atinconvenient times who are lavished with care as babiesand then these independent, often callous children grow upand drift away bent on their own goals. Praxis' friends alsomarry, get divorced or leave children for the love of anotherman-and rarely does life yield up any clear solutions.The one unconvincing part of this latest Fay Weldon novelwas a dollop of feminism when Praxis embraces the move-ment and even becomes a cu It heroine toward the end.Interspersed with the narrative which runs through fromPraxis playing on the beach to her middle-age, are chapterscommenting on the world as middle-aged Praxis finds ittoday. This is a much more ambitious and difficult novelthan Female Friends or Remember Me, but the message iseven sharper and in among the juicy wedges of humor,few-very few-crumbs of comfort are to be found.Also published in Emergency Librarian, V. 6, No. 1.

Old Woman at Play

https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/download/14540/13592

Old Woman at Play

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Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)