Consciousness, Literature and the Arts
Archive
Volume 6 Number 2, August 2005
Special Issue: Literary Universals
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Groover, Kristina K., ed., Things of the Spirit, Indiana, U. of Notre Dame Press, 2004. 357 p., ISBN 0-268-02962-8, $ 70.00 (HB), $ 25.00 (PB).
Reviewed by
Utah State University
In this collection of essays, Kristina Groover presents a line of fine academic work on spiritual women writers from Teresa of Avila’s sixteenth-century mysticism to the politically charged spirituality of contemporary women authors. Whether one reads the essays in the order presented or browses for familiar names and topics, the reader will be captivated by the powerful words of these committed thinkers: poets, diarists, autobiographers, and fiction writers.
Groover writes that her reason for collecting these writings on female spiritualism was the striking exclusion of such works from the literary scene. Placed into the right context, many of these writers are explored as spiritualists for the first time. These writers have challenged and, through their pioneer efforts, sought to inspire others to change the masculine hue of spiritual writing and thinking of the past five centuries. With the help of a redefinition of the sacred, meaning “coming into relationship,”—a phrase the editor adopts from Carol Ochs (3)—Groover suggests female writers have been chronicling this gender-specific approach as opposed to bowing to the masculine interpretation of the sacred as a solitary and powerful means to spirituality.
I will not attempt to further synthesize these thoughtful and delicate essays; instead, I will briefly dwell on a few to whet the readers’ appetite. (Incidentally, as I am writing this review, amazon.com warns that they have one copy of this book left until reordering…)
My first pick is Elizabeth J. Adams’ “The Architectonics of Desire: Pageantry, Procession, and Protagonists in Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle (1577).” Adams depicts the author as she is in the process of writing down her unorthodox thoughts. I can picture Teresa with an almost naughty smile on her face as she, ever so delicately, pinches at the sides of the male authority of religious/spiritual writing. She establishes a sisterhood with her readers, directly addressing the nuns of her order, thereby drawing them into her aura and making them her political accomplices, but at the same time addressing a possibly larger audience as well. Teresa’s ethos and pathos are filled with irony: on the one hand, she almost apologizes for her thoughts on account of her poor health—can those ideas be the production of an afflicted mind?—on the other, the reader is aware that she is facing impending death at the hands of the Inquisition. The story of the Interior Castle is, however, a handbook for the sisters on how to free themselves from the male advisors who do not understand the nature of female spiritualism.
Sue Matheson reopens the case of another pre-feminist author, Aemilia Lanyer. In “Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum,” Lanyer proposes a privileged position in society for women, though she shies away from suggesting a superior one. Such diplomatic prowess is remarkable in an age when a number of females had been holding key political positions. Similarly, Lanyer promotes a spiritual equality of the sexes. Within the limitations of a short essay, Matheson gives a crystallized overview of both Lanyer’s key points and the tangled political background.
I must mention Debra Cumberland’s “Ritual and Performance in Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market.’” Of this haunting poem, Cumberland proffers a deep analysis promoting the idea of a female spiritualism defined within the domestic scene but one that is created and fostered by feminine communalism. Cumberland also points out the poem’s fairy-tale-like qualities which, for me, have always likened this work to tales of the more gruesome tradition, that of the Grimm Brothers and Hauff.
I purposely selected essays exploring works of female writers from the pre-feminist era since I have always been fascinated by how thoughts and trends developed until they gained the ground of awareness. Other authors essayed include Mary Butts, Audre Lorde, Sandra Cisneros and Linda Hogan.
In all, this is a book that should occupy a well-deserved spot on the bookshelf of female as well as male readers of all backgrounds to challenge and to call to an active rethinking and rereading of works on female spiritualism. Though some eras are underrepresented, like the first half of the 20th century, the book offers a rich resource for inspirited readers.