Poxon, Judith

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

ture: "Ludvik, par precaution, monta dans le wagon de queue car s'il apprdciait la fantaisie des doux dingues, il ne goatait gukre en revan- che les cinglds grandiloquents." Only in very rare instances is Germain's lyricism overblown-"Ce jeune homme a des larmes d'oiseau de mer dont il parskme les ongles noirs des convivesm--or her authorial presence unnecessarily intrusive: "En fait Ludvik dtait bien plus affect6 qu'il ne voulait le reconnaitre par tous ces dvdnements et la ddficience de sa vue offrait un ddrivatif h son inquietude." Such minor criticisms apart, Eckztsde sel is a beautihlly composed work, intricately linking apparently super- fluous details to form an integrated narrative whole. Numerous thematic parallels run throughout the narra- tive, demanding the reader's active participation in their decipherment. The work's first reference to salt is in adescription ofJudas in davinci's La B n e  (Biblical resonances are once again ubiquitous in Eckzts de sel); in a similar vein, LudvIk considers his be- haviour towards his former mentor to be an act of betrayal. His mentor is significantly named Brum, and with his death, Ludvik's misty vision of the past disperses and he is able to see more clearly; the destruction of his glasses also acquires symbolic value in that he can now face the past un- aided. Shortly before his death, Brum sends Ludvik a card whose design he gradually deciphers, further highlight- ing his improved perception: "I1 lui semblait parfoisvoir Aeurer unvague motifdans cette image peinte ton sur ton,--des esquisses de silhouettes discrktement ivoirdes se suivant A la queue leu leu dans une brume laiteuse." A final example of the textual par- allels which enrich the reader's un- derstanding of the narrative frames Eckzts dc sel. The novel begins and ends with the protagonist on a train, travelling back fromT. to Prague, the first trip after visiting the ailing Brum, the second after Brum's funeral. The psychological distance travelled be- tween the two journeys is underlined in Ludvik's ability to confront his past, embodied in a second self. O n  his first trip, he falls asleep, in a subconscious move to avoid contact with the strangely familar man in his train compartment, yet on the sec- ond journey he enters into dialogue with his "sosie" and thus reintegrates his past with his present: "I1 se rendait A lui-mtme, i I'inhidence du monde, au miracle de la rdalitd, A la foncikre rdalitd du rke." Brum's death helps him "A retrouver le gofit de vivre," and like salt, gives him a new thirst for life. The numerous references to salt accumulate throughout the work and, in a manner analogous to Stendhal's description of the salt-cov- ered branch in Del'amour, "cristallise" in Ludvik's sanguineness about his future. While the combination ofthe fan- tastic and the everyday in Eckzts dcsel may produce a feeling of "ddpay- sement" in some readers, it is worth heeding the advice given to Ludvik by one of his many interlocuters. In what could be a direct exhortation to both Anglo-American and French feminisms, and that, within the field ofreligious studies in particular, there exist many opportunities for finding ways beyond some of the impasses that trouble contemporary feminist theory. Toward this end, according to the introductory essay (CO-authored by editors Morny Joy and Eva Neumaier-Dargyay), the essays in this collection both call into question and strategically affirm the categories of "gender" and "genre," and in the process the category of "religion" it- self undergoes significant interroga- tion from both gendered and generic perspectives. These themes are more fully elabo- rated in Mary Gerhart's opening con- tribution. Asserting the importance of the hermeneutical turn away from the desire for certain knowledge and toward an appreciation of the process of knowing, Gerhart suggests that religious studies, with the multiplic- ity of genres evident among the sa- cred texts and oral religious tradi- - the reader, the stranger urges: tions of the world, provides a rich "Rebroussez un peu chemin dans vos venue within which feminists may pensees par-deli le cercle Ctroit devos raise questions about the status of idees toutes faites, surfaites et mal identities, gendered and otherwise. faites de surcroit, risquez-vous donc She takes note of the challenge to the du cBtd de I'impensd ... ." It is a risk epistemological coherence of femi- richly rewarded. nist theory that has arisen within feminism in response to confronta- GENDER, GENRE AND RELIGION: FEMINIST REFLECTIONS Morny Joy and Eva Neumaier- Dargyay, eds. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1995. 6Judith Poxon This volume, comprising 16 essays with a brief introduction, was com- piled by a research network ofwomen scholars organized to take stock of the current status of feminist scholarship in religious studies in Canada. The collective wager of those who partici- pated in this project is that Canadian feminism, because of its double anglophone and francophone herit- age, stands in a privileged relation to tions with race- and class-based cri- tiques of white, middle-class, femi- nism, and acknowledges the need to interrogate the category of "woman" even as she also asserts the inevitabil- ity of reaffirming that category as the basis for political action. What is especially significant about this move for feminist scholars of religion, Gerhart notes, is its suggestion of an analogous approach to the category o f  religion" itself, an approach which entails bringing both "gender" and "genres" perspectives to bear on the texts and traditions that make up the material of religious studies, so as to trouble both notions of identity and the traditional (patriarchal) insistence on canonical interpretations of those texts and traditions. The fifteen essays that comprise the balance of this volume, then, are CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIESlLES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME divided into two groups. The seven contributions contained in the first group ("Gendered Perspectives") adopt the viewpoint ofgender-and, in two instances, class and race-in order to explore and begin to rectify the historic exclusion of women's voices from religious scholarship and to raise issues of colonialism within the field of religious studies. Various aspects of Christian feminist theol- ogy are explored by Eileen Schuller, Pamela Dickey Young, and Monique Dumais; essays by Norma Joseph and Naomi Goldenberg offer ortho- dox and atheistic Jewish perspectives; and non-western perspectives inspire the essays of Doreen Spence, who explores the multiple and often con- flicting religious and cultural identi- ties of Native American women, and Sheila McDonough, who considers the volatile sociopolitical context of Islamic women today. The eight essays of the second group ("Genre Explorations") illus- trate the conviction that an apprecia- tion of the plurality of genres avail- able among the religious traditions of the world can invigorate feminist cri- tiques of the categories and assump- tions of religious studies, as histori- cally understood. In this context, non- traditional genres figure prominently in these analyses ofwomen's position in various contemporary and histori- cal cultures. Eva Neumaier-Dargyay, for example, attends to Buddhist texts meant for lay audiences, such as epis- tles and tractates, while Katherine Young draws on Hindi popular cin- ema. Francine Michaud examines wills written by thirteenth-century French women; Fan Pen Chen looks to a traditional Chinese novel. Essays by Marilyn Legge and WinnieTomm attempt to articulate new genres of religious expression, both based on a sense of the importance of inter- relatedness to any feminist under- standing~ of self or ethics, while Marsha Hewitt draws on writings from outside the field of religious studies in order to consider connec- tions between the writings of Mary Daly and Herbert Marcuse. And Morny Joy, in closing, recalls issues raised by Gerhart, arguing that it is in fracturing traditional, patriarchal notions o f  truth" by pursuing knowl- edge from a multiplicity of (gendered and generic) perspectives that femi- WOMEN'S STUDIES CENTRE University College. Galway, Ireland Tlris centre orgrrnises teerchir~g, resecrrcl~ crridprrblishing in the urcrr qf C C  onlerr ' S  Stlrelies [ ' ( 'G Women's Studies ('entre Re\.ie\\ Irelantl's first re\ iew series in M'omen's Studies. publishing neM 11-1sh and Intel-national research. Volume -1 includes art~cles on 'defining the political'. 'perspecti\.es on citizenship'. 'beijing K: after' and 'different ~ o i c e s ' .  I t  IS no\\ a\ ailable ?i f S (please include E? (Europe) or £3.50 (lnteinational) to co\ er postage K: pacl\aging costs CertificateIDiploma in \\'omen's Stuclies A t\\o-?ear. part-time course comprising t u o  modules per semester. Candidates ma? graduate at the end of )ear one \\-it11 a College Certificate. or complcte t \ \o \ears and receil e a National Iini\e~-sit! of Ireland Iliploma t:ntr> IS open to both graduates and non-graduates. Public Seminar Series During Autumn 1997 and Spring 1998 the Wo~nen 's  Studies Centre \\-ill host t \ \o seminar series on the themes: 'Women against Racis111'. &( 'Women and the I.a\\'. All seminars are fi.ee and are open to all. bor furtl~er inforll~ation please contact: \\omen's Stutlies Centre, I 'ni\ersih <‘allege. C;al\\a!. Ireland. Pl~one 091. 750155. Fas 091.750510. E:-n~ail \\\c a ucg.ie nist scholars of religion will make their most significant contribution. In light of the theoretical questions that frame this collection of essays, then, this volume will be valuable both as a comprehensive survey ofthe status of feminist religious studies in Canada today and as an important contribution to currentdebateswithin its field. Canadian Woman Studie is  the perfect insightful gift for the informotive holidays! inspiring Why not get a gift subscription for your friends or family? The first issue of your gift sub, our Winter 1997198 issue, "Women and Education" will be mailed in January. And if you are in a "giving mood," please remember that dona- tions to CWS are welcome and greatly cppreciated-and we will acknowledge any contribution you make with a tax receipt! To order a gift subscription or to donate, just turn the page ... VOLUME 17, NUMBER 3 131 

Gender, Genre and Religion: Feminist Reflections

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Gender, Genre and Religion: Feminist Reflections

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