Volume 20, Number 10 · June 14, 1973
Wise-Women
By Alison Lurie
The Summer Before the Dark
by Doris Lessing
Knopf, 279 pp., $6.95
The Black Prince
by Iris Murdoch
Viking, 407 pp., $6.95
Last week I was at a meeting of a sensitivity-type group which was asked to go on a fantasy trip up a mountain to consult a 'sage'—sex not specified. Six out of eight came back down to report that their sage was a woman. I wasn't really surprised: so many male sages have been exposed lately as fools or knaves, or both, that it seems only natural to turn to the other sex for wisdom and virtue, especially if you are a woman—and even more if you are a feminist. And both the writers I am about to consider here have had strong claims made for them along these lines.
Review, 2369 words
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