The Women’s Review of Books Vol. XX, No. 10-11 July 2003 74035 $4.00 I In This Issue Fiction, Poetry, and Memoir for Summer Reading: I Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas are observed from the unique perspective of their Vietnamese cook in The Book of Salt, Monique Truong’s first novel, p. 23. I The works of Jane Austen, Vladimir Nabokov, and F. Scott Fitzgerald may never have been as relevant as they are to a group of women readers in revolution- ary Tehran, recounts Azar CONTRIBUTORS TO THE AGING SECTION: Top row, left to right: Gayle Greene, Gayle Pemberton, Alix Kates Shulman Nafisi in her memoir, (photos by Ann Rosalind Jones, Ariel Jones, Daniel Milner) 2nd row, left to right: Marilyn Hacker, Suzanne Ruta, Alicia Ostriker Reading Lolita in Tehran, (photos by Iva Hacker-Delany, Nancy Dahl, J. P. Ostriker) 3rd row, left to right: Kerryn Higgs, Vivian Gornick, Lesley Hazleton p. 24. (photos by Lisa Gross, Esther Hyneman, Olivier D’hose) Bottom row, left to right: Florence Howe, Veronica Chambers, Jane O'Reilly (Chambers photo by Anna Williams) I Ellen Ullman’s novel The Bug examines the experience of women in the male-domi- nated world of high technol- Special issue: Women aging ogy, p. 26. In The Quality of Life Report (reviewed on page 25 by Amanda Nash), comic nov- elist Meghan Daum asks, “Is 37 the new 26?” Or, as I’ve heard friends of mine, some- what older than Daum, hopefully put it, “Is 60 the new 50?” Several of the authors in our special issue on Women Aging question the entire concept of age, at least as it has been constructed in the contemporary US. Alix Kates Shulman, now 70, says she’s never I and more... felt older than she did at 34, “a disillusioned wife with a wandering husband, no savings, no prospects, no future.” Then, she encountered the women’s movement. 07> Which, as Florence Howe points out, is really not so old itself—35 years or so, depending on how you’re counting. The bonds formed as women now in their 50s, 60s, and 70s shared (and struggled over) experiences, ideas, values, and political work sus- tained many of them for decades. The importance of female friends and especially of 0374470 74035 mentors seems only to increase with age, as reflected here in writings by Howe, Gayle Pemberton, and Veronica Chambers. PRINTED IN THE USA continued on page three The Women’s Review Contents of Books Wellesley College Center for Research on Women a SPECIAL ISSUE:WOMEN AGING a Wellesley, MA 02481 (781) 283-2087/ (888) 283-8044 3 Alix Kates Shulman a THOUGHTS AT 70: A woman with a past? Or one with a future? What is old www.wellesley.edu/WomensReview anyway? Volume XX, No. 10-11 July 2003 4 Vivian Gornick a THE HOUSE OF ELDER ARTISTS: The challenge of making a daydream into reality FOUNDING EDITOR: Linda Gardiner 5 Gayle Greene a CATCHING ZZZS: Women lie awake and wonder: Why is most sleep research conducted EDITOR IN CHIEF: Amy Hoffman on men? [email protected] PRODUCTION EDITOR: Amanda Nash 7 Suzanne Ruta a SCRABBLE WITH MY MOTHER: What the words really spell CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Martha Nichols, Jan Zita Grover 9 Kerryn Higgs a A TALE OF TWO ACCIDENTS: Injury at 20 is not the same as injury at 55 POETRY AND CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Robin Becker 10 Alicia Ostriker a PRAYING FOR THE END OF ANGER: “A woman is her mother,” poet Anne Sexton ADVERTISING MANAGER: Anita D. McClellan once wrote. But is that fate inevitable? [email protected] OFFICE MANAGER: Nancy Wechsler 11 Veronica Chambers a FRIENDS FOR LIFE: How female friendship evolves from youthful crushes to the EDITORIAL BOARD: Margaret Andersen I Robin Becker I Claudia M. Christie I deeper relationships of years Marsha Darling I Anne Fausto-Sterling I Carol Gilligan I Sandra Harding I Nancy 12 Marilyn Hacker a THE POET AT 80: A tribute to the aging poet Marie Ponsot is full of the imagery of Hartsock I Carolyn Heilbrun I Evelyn Fox vigor and growth Keller I Jean Baker Miller I Ruth Perry I Peggy Phelan I Helene Vivienne Wenzel a ARYGROWSUP 12 Lesley Hazleton M : The Virgin in her later years EDITORIAL POLICY: The Women’s Review of Books is feminist but not Florence Howe a MY “OLD LADIES”: As writers age, they find ways to continue their work 14 restricted to any one conception of feminism; all writing that is neither sexist, racist, homo- 17 Jane O’Reilly a RUNNING OUT OF TIME: Reaching the age of acceptance and pendulous earlobes phobic, nor otherwise discriminatory is wel- come. We seek to represent the widest possi- 18 Carolyn G. Heilbrun a TAKING A U-TURN: The aging woman as explorer of new territory ble range of feminist perspectives both in the books reviewed and in the content of the 19 Gayle Pemberton a NO REGRETS: Which ambitions and possessions are important, and which are not, reviews. We believe that no one of us can speak for feminism, or women, as such; all of was a lesson learned in an unlikely setting—Hollywood our thinking and writing takes place in a spe- cific political, social, ethnic, and sexual con- 21 Eileen Boris a CARING FOR THE CARETAKERS: Feminist Ethics and Home Health Care text, and a responsible review periodical should reflect and further that diversity. The by Jennifer A. Parks Women’s Review takes no editorial stance; all the views expressed in it represent the opinion of I REVIEWS I the individual authors. 22 Susan Millar Williams I Wild Card Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home by Janisse Ray ADVERTISING POLICY: The Women’s Review accepts both display and Jan Clausen I The Book of Salt by Monique Truong classified advertising. The Women’s Review will 23 not accept advertising which is clearly inap- propriate to the goals of a feminist publica- 24 Nan Levinson I Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi tion: As we are unable to investigate the accu- racy of claims made by our advertisers, publi- 25 Amanda Nash I The Quality of Life Report by Meghan Daum; The Porno Girl and Other Stories cation of an advertisement does not repre- sent endorsement by The Women’s Review. by Merin Wexler Advertising inquiries: call 781-283-2560, amc- [email protected] 26 Martha Nichols I The Bug by Ellen Ullman Diana Postlethwaite I The Photograph by Penelope Lively The Women’s Review of Books (ISSN #0738- 27 1433) is published monthly except August by The Women’s Review, Inc., 828 Washington 28 Nancy B. Reich I Clara: A Novel by Janice Galloway Street, Wellesley, MA 02481. Annual subscrip- tions are $27.00 for individuals and $47.00 for 29 Marie Shear I The Atheist: Madalyn Murray O’Hair by Bryan F. 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As an autonomous publication it has its own editorial board and board of directors, 34 Martha Gies I All Night Movie by Alicia Borinsky who set policy with regard to its editorial, financial and organizational character. 35 Pamela Petro I A Visit to Don Otavio: A Traveller’s Tale from Mexico by Sybille Bedford; The Women’s Review is distributed by Total Circulation, New York City, NY; Ingram, Pleasures and Landscapes: A Traveler’s Tales from Europe by Sybille Bedford; A Legacy: A Nashville, TN; and Armadillo Trading, Culver Novel by Sybille Bedford; Jigsaw: An Unsentimental Education by Sybille Bedford City, CA. All other distribution is handled directly by The Women’s Review. Sarita Sarvate I The Mango Season by Amulya Malladi The contents of 36 The Women’s Review of Books are copy- 36 Adrian Oktenberg I Calendars by Annie Finch; Flux, Poems by Cynthia Hogue; Little River, New right ©2003. All and Selected Poems by Linda McCarriston; Against Love Poetry, Poems by Eavan Boland rights reserved; reprint by permis- 38 Letters sion only. 38 Contributors 39 The Bookshelf This special issue is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. 2 The Women’s Review of Books / Vol. XX, No. 10-11 / July 2003 Special issue: Women aging (introduction continued from page one) My father, now 80, seems to talk more and more often of the influence on him of his own father, who died 30 years ago. Similarly, writers like Suzanne Ruta and Vivian Gornick often think of their mothers, living or dead. Says Alicia Ostriker, “Many times I have said to myself, ‘Well, that’s the last poem I am going to write about my mother.’ It hasn’t happened yet.” (Curiously, in this admittedly arbitrary collection, none is obsessed in the same way with a relationship with a daughter.