From Publishers Weekly
In this illuminating companion study to The Goddess, which demonstrated the relevance of Greek goddess traditions to the self-understanding of contemporary women, Downing focuses on the bond between sisters, blood and otherwise. Examining Greek and Near Eastern myths and the work of Freud, Jung and Adler as well as feminist theorists, she celebrates the sisterly, reciprocal attachment as the most adequate model of mature human relationships, displacing the familiar notion that the mother-child relationship is paradigmatic. Her perceptive conclusions are innovative: "Sisterhoodthe deeply intimate interdependent relationship between women that sustains us even as we fail one anotherhas become a model for me . . . where I find the parent-child model oppressive and misleading. . . I have come to see it as also relevant to our understanding of our relationship to the natural world. . .Seeing the earth as Mother ignores our responsibility to it, our interdependence with all that lives . . . ." This provocative, erudite book by the head of religious studies at San Diego State University is well-documented but precludes a lay readership as it assumes substantial familiarity with myth and folklore, feminist and psychological scholarship. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In her sequel to The Goddess ( LJ 1/15/82), Downing analyzes "the rich kaleidoscope of sisterly experience" to discover what is unique to the sister bond. As she reflects on fairy tales, Greek and Near Eastern mythologies, and psychology (Adler, Freud, Jung, and feminist theorists), she affirms the power of sisterhood and concludes that even the disillusionment that results from idealizing sisterhood can be a positive force: just as Psyche's sisters, though cruel and jealous, instigated her self-discovery, so the complexities and ambivalences peculiar to sisterhood can propel women in their own journeys "toward self, toward psyche ." Appropriate for women's studies and psychology collections. Cynthia Widmer, Williamstown, Mass.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
