\s mYevtew ELECTRONIC ADDITION - University of British Columbia

BOOKS IN REVIEWSmith-god, the distinguished professorwho is constantly telling the narratorhow a novel should be written, and Mr.Jones, "the eager and youthful intellectualtype with the very pointed nose,pointed fingers and a fondness of pointsin general," who does his best to preventthe female writer from choosing wordsfreely. In spite of these two types of maleacademic, Finn's words do get put downon the page; the characters are vital andthe author manages to develop a distinctivevoice.The book begins with an introductionestablishing some of the text's centralissues. The major theme of the book isrebirth (attempted rebirth is also a themein Kerslake's) ; it is a theme that characterizesmuch contemporary women's fiction.Finn, a British citizen who studiedin Canada, finds that the most importantcurrent Canadian writers are women.And she fully embraces feminism:"Feminism is the route I take because itaffects my life so deeply that, in fact, Ihave no choice." She discusses the importanceof voice in fiction, stresses heruse of the lyric mode, approves of women'semphasis on domestic imagery(especially with symbolic overtones), andpoints out that she has "invested a greatdeal in the reader/writer relationship."Finn's return to a partially oral traditionis noticeable throughout the text, wherethe author allows her projected reader tointerfere with the development of stories,with the description of characters, andeven with the words used. Finn's attentionto the reader allows her to make useof what she insists is "the active, creativepotential of reading." Most important,Finn stresses that, as a feminist, shewants to get away from rigid genreboundaries, and from closed texts: "Iwished to adopt a listening attitude,listening rather than imposing, openrather than closed."The story that follows this introductiondemonstrates in a sometimes didacticmanner the points made. The authorassumes her reader to be another womanwho, like herself, is in semi-darkness, althoughconnected to the old womanwhose stories comfortably encircle all theother stories told. Again and again, thecharacters find themselves out on a plainwhere direction is unclear and whereeach seems as disconnected from narrativeas from the concrete articles ofeveryday life. Allegorically, this plain isthe blank page of the book on whicheach character, as well as history itself, isbeing recreated. Such remaking infuriatesthe men who enter the text to givethe writer instructions that would helpher to write a proper story — that is, amale one.The images used are female images,and are seen from female perspectives : ablack cat sinuously winds its way throughthe various tales; the Garden of Eden'sserpent becomes a positive figure, and afeminine one; the sea is maternal. Femalesubjects dominate the content:abortion, nurturing, housecleaning, relationshipsbetween mothers and daughters,and female friendships. Rather thanbeing connected by conventional narrativedevelopment, the women are "connectedonly by threads of sound," emphasizedby the occasional introductionof poetry into the prose passages. Thebook is also visual; reflections impressthe doublings that occur, and the authoremphasizes the ways words mirror events.It is no easy matter to write such anobviously contrived book. Yet in spite ofits flaws — a tendency to repeat prosaicallywhat has already been demonstratedimaginatively; a sometimes forcedwit —the book is peculiarly disarming.For example, just as the reader is becomingmost exasperated with the allegory,the author allows her into the text sothat she can voice the criticisms : " 'I'm171