In this compelling memoir by a writer; mother; and feminist; Jane Lazarre confronts the myth of the "good mother" with her fiercely honest and intimate portrait of early motherhood as a time of profound ambivalence and upheaval; filled with desperation as well as joy; the struggle to reclaim a sense of self; and sheer physical exhaustion. Originally published in 1976; The Mother Knot is a feminist classic; as relevant today as it was twenty years ago.
#856526 in Books Peter Lang Publishing 1989-07-01Original language:English 9.00 x 6.25 x .75l; #File Name: 0820410829224 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Useful; but not indispensable; for describing the basics of Egyptian religious beliefBy DAJYet another book focused on the deep significance of Egyptian theology. It's not very hard to read; unlike some of its ilk; though it feels more wordy than it needs to be. For those who have read Erik Hornung's Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt; its treatment of the gods themselves won't provide much that's new. However; its scope is broader than the gods per se. There are chapters on mythology and its relationship with ritual; the process of creation; kingship; maat; the belief surrounding Osiris; afterlife beliefs; the question of monotheistic thought in Egyptian religion; and morality. On some of these subjects there's much less study than you'd expect; so Tobin's work on them is welcome. For instance; only a few recent Egyptologists have tried to define what role myth actually played in Egyptian society. Tobin argues that we should not expect myths to form coherent stories (in Egypt they largely don't); because the symbolic significance of myth is more easily preserved if myth is conveyed in a flexible; fragmentary form. He also says that mythic symbolism "perhaps demonstrates a greater reverence for the divine than do the most profound and abstract theological statements"—interesting because; in addition to being an Egyptologist; Tobin is an Anglican minister!Tobin's conclusion describes the most important principles of Egyptian religion. One was life; which was regarded as a force all its own; a power that continuously flowed through the world. That explains why the ankh sign; the hieroglyph for "life"; is so ubiquitous in Egyptian art (and is therefore a famous symbol even today). The second principle was maat; the order that defined how the world should function. The third is the existence of deities; whose core purpose was to maintain maat and thus maintain the proper flow of life-force throughout the world. Tobin thus arrives at a conclusion similar to Religion of the Ancient Egyptians but describes it much less abstrusely.Although I disagree with a few of the details in Tobin's analysis and think it's missing another fundamental principle of Egyptian religion (heka; defined in The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice); his work is a great help in understanding the Egyptian worldview at its most basic.
