Contemporary Pop Lit Myths
The myths found in contemporary popular literature are also relevant to Leila's search for selfhood. Leila Sand proves not only a self-confident writer but a sophisticated, critical reader. Her bitter reflections on Popular Literature, another strong addiction, create a lot of sheer humour which are like Isadora’s fierce arguments.
So I turned to Pop Lit. Femme 101. Women Who Love Too Much; Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them; Smart Women, Foolish Choices... all the books that promise relief from man addiction. The books were something. They told you everything that was wrong with your relationship (heavily implying that it was all your fault) but they didn’t tell you how to find a good relationship. 164/X
Erica Jong argues vigorously that those popular Do-it-yourself manuals could do nothing else but consolidate further the popular notion of the woman as a victim, who is always ‘hooked on a heartless bastard’. Isn’t it even more convenient and profitable to stick to the conventional myth of the passive woman, who is supposed always to behave. Let the man continue misbehaving. He never needs to be entirely ready to give up his addictions, but she does. Jong’s serious concern is suddenly complemented by a hilarious remark: ‘At times I thought these books were part of a conspiracy of female authors to get other women’s men’. This theory of Leila crashes into the fact that some of these books were written by men, although never for men. In her ongoing speculations Leila keeps her humour and her personal integrity of an artist who doesn’t match the pop lit myths, which most probably were written by homosexuals, ‘hoping to spring loose a few more men who are now disaffected with the whole female sex’.
Bessie Smith’s lyrics
Bessie Smith’s lyrics could also be interpreted as another key opener to Leila’s personality. Bessie, the Empress of the Blues, Leila’s heroine is undoubtedly a mythological figure in herself. And more so when Bessie is credited at every chapter's opening with small quotes from her lyrics or by trading places in the main text with Isadora Wing and arguing fiercely with Leila. Moreover Bessie Smith is given the real prominence in the book’s title taken from her Any Woman’s Blues collection of songs.
On the other hand Bessie’s songs are the ultimate voice of female pain predicting male unpredictability, declaring that nothing between man and women is new under the sun, and are represented as being the ultimate embodiment of the ever-cherished myth of the suffering woman. They are definately not the answer to Leila’s search of womanhood, or selfhood, nor her comfort. These are songs-questions ‘reminding you that millions of women - black, white, yellow, and brown - have cried this way before you, have turned these griefs into rich, resonant song’ p. 86/V.
Copyright © : Iliyana Nedkova,1996-7
N.Paradoxa : Issue No.6, 1998