Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Identity Theft...


I find it supercilious that Henrietta Goodman has any internal dilemma regarding the use of life experiences of any acquaintances when she has no quandary stealing characters with elaborate histories. The appropriation of Penelope, Botticelli’s Venus, and Gretel are not completely appropriate – in Gretel’s case she refutes the incestuous insinuations by insisting that Hansel was not a literal brother figure. It does not relegate the fact that it exists, the use of a character with an established story means that you accept in some degree the themes, and symbolism encompassed by the character. Perhaps a less solecistical selection would have been little red riding hood, or Mary from the Secret Garden. I do understand, and sympathize, the deficit of strong female characters in the dogmatic world of Christianity. While a myriad of possibilities are available in myth and fairy tale they lack the credentials and solidity needed to be catapulted from the sphere of morality tale. As for Penelope who is known for her virtue in her husband’s absence – the poem “Penelope at the Wheel” might have been more relevant if it was Helen of Troy. I do not object to the use of characters created by other artists, or even based in legend, or folklore. I quite enjoyed the works of Margaret Atwood writing from Penelope’s view “The Penelopiad”, or The works of Gregory Maguire who has taken the ugly stepsister from Cinderella, the Wicked Witch of the West, and most impressively tied Lucretia Borgia to the Legend of Snow White.
More odiferous to my taste is the hijack of academia by the spirit of feminism; leading to the publication and praise of second rate works, such as Take What You Want. While I do believe in equal freedom for the sexes, I do not pardon the sin of adultery with the same impartial candor as a one night stand or a sexual awakening. For one who touts diligence as the main trait needed to be a successful poet, deserting her husband critically wounds her stamina. The Catholic critic, whom she honored with a poem rebuttal, was correct in his assessment of Ms. Goodman. I can easily see the comparison to Sylvia Plath a widely recognized name within the confessional poetry genre. Ms. Plath based her works on unpleasant and painful circumstances like suicide and miscarriage. Ms. Goodman’s confessions are an attempt at absolution for her guilt; they also echo her feelings of unimportance and peccability. Her belief that putting it in writing may add weight to her otherwise bleak life. The sexual overtones are indicative of repression, while her fixation on cultural correctness is liberating, her art is an attempt to defy the current social conventions that she finds so binding.
While I do find her use of words inspired in creating imagery, her general gist is that of a pseudo-intellectual wanting to appear as more than a failed songwriter, with a failed marriage, and the burdens of single parenthood. Rendered in print, with her fear of sexual fulfillment, Ms. Goodman reads as an immature adolescent rather than a seasoned voice of reason. Her ideas are unoriginal and heavily influenced by her college syllabus, and frankly been handled more adeptly by Louise Gluck, Sylvia Plath, and Emily Dickinson.

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