Kathleen Wall

Kathleen Wall traces the myth through fifteen works of English, American, and Canadian literature, providing a fresh, feminist reading of these narratives. Among the works analysed are selections by Margaret Atwood, Charlotte Bronte, Thomas Hardy, and George Elliot. The resulting text reveals many facets of the realities of women's experience from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. And ultimately, Wall shows rape to be an expression of dominance rather than lust, giving increased support to the definition suggested by feminists. Wall demonstrates that the Callisto myth is a powerful archetype which illustrates both the victimization of women and their search for independence and autonomy, an archetype that should not be ignored by modern women.

Initiation and Rape in Literature

Callisto Myth from Ovid to Atwood

Lila, a talented pianist and wife to Rob, has decided she cannot passively follow a score someone else has written—in her musical career and her marriage. As she struggles in her role as daughter to a mother who is dying of cancer, Lila finds that Kevin, a violinist and Lila’s musical partner, helps to keep her love of music in tune through trying times. Lila’s husband Rob has his own demons to conquer. A cynical history professor, Rob has been accused of harassment by his own department head. With each chapter told from the point of view of one of the three major characters, Blue Duets is a meditation on life at middle age and the consequence of compromise. As the narrators’ voices move from harmony to discord, we learn to appreciate the different perspectives in the story. Lila, puzzled yet rational, uses what she understands of art and music to pilot her present life struggles. Kevin is comic and transparent in his observations of Lila’s existential dilemma. Rob’s penchant for gourmet cooking disguises his inability to reflect. In Blue Duets, enjoy a novel about perspective and learning to trust one’s intuition.

Blue Duets

Gary Ferguson

Constant change goes hand in hand with modern living. We no longer spend our lives in one job, one relationship, or the place we grew up, and the cultural markers that used to guide us through different stages have lost their meaning in today's society. Without rituals for marking these passages, we become controlled by the changes in our lives instead of using them as new opportunities for growth. Lights of Passage is a hopeful, enriching, and practical guide to reinventing rituals and ceremonies and using them to gracefully navigate through transitions, both large and small. It offers simple yet profound ways to use change to reposition ourselves in the world and to let go of old patterns to discover new and healthier ones.

Rituals and Rites of Passage for the Problems and Pleasures of Modern Life

Lights of Passage

Evelyn Riddle

This packet offers a rich variety of reproducible standards-based assessments and is designed to help your students review degrees of adjectives and adverbs. It contains grade-appropriate worksheets suitable for monitoring skill retention as well as practice and reinforcement.

Kathleen Wall

Books

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