Face to Face: Women Writers on Faith, Mysticism, and Awakening - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 086547558X ISBN 13: 9780865475588

Publisher: North Point Press, 2004

Synopsis

From the editors of the Sweet Breathing of Plants, a new anthology of women's writing on faith and spirituality

From the vantage points of diverse backgrounds and beliefs, the writings gathered here describe a vast range of spiritual searches and encounters. Sy Montgomery writes about shamans, Terry Tempest Williams about her Mormon heritage, and Starhawk about witchcraft. Mary Gordon captures the attractions of the contemplative life. Ursula Le Guin speaks about the feminine aspects of the Tao te Ching. Jane Goodall reflects on the symbiosis of science and religion after experiencing an ecstatic loss of self in the company of chimpanzees. Facet by facet, these essays and poems--by Molly Peacock, Anne Sexton, Kathleen Norris, Diane Ackerman, and Joy Harjo, among others--reveal and celebrate the special relationship of women to the spiritual realm in a volume that will comfort, provoke, and inspire.

About this title

About the Author

A poet, novelist, and essayist, Linda Hogan is the author of eleven previous books. Brenda Peterson is the author of fifteen books, including four novels, two collections of essays, and a memoir. They live, respectively, in Colorado and Seattle.

From Publishers Weekly

From Judith Roche's poem about angels to Mohja Kahf's reflections on growing up Muslim in Indiana and New Jersey, this collection on feminine spirituality is eloquent, elegant and satisfyingly multicultural. Established literary luminaries, like Mary Gordon, are found alongside more obscure but equally skilled writers like Suzanne Edison. As in the editors' previous anthology, The Sweet Breathing of Plants, many of the pieces gathered here connect the natural and spiritual worlds. (This is perhaps best exemplified by the excerpt from Terry Tempest Williams's Refuge, which draws together reflections on Mormonism and the Great Salt Lake, and by the short, astounding "Epiphany," in which the late poet Pem Kremer writes, "she saw You once as prairie grass.... She says when she can't pray/She calls up prairie grass.") The volume also seeks the spiritual in the everyday: Susan Biskeborn grounds her reflections on God in conversations held with her toddler daughter, while Catherine Johnson has an epiphany at a Parisian metro stop. A final section on "Practicing" shows women investigating spiritual disciplines as diverse as Quaker silence and Wiccan craft rituals. The collection is tarnished by the predictable, but nonetheless disappointing, under-representation of women representing more conservative religious communities—evangelical Protestantism, Orthodox Judaism, etc. Even so, readers hungry for feminine spirituality investigated with literary flair will find a feast.
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About this edition

• Publisher: North Point Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 086547558X
• ISBN 13: 9780865475588
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Hogan Linda, Peterson Brenda